The Guru’s NCAAW Local Roundup: Temple Opens Defense of Big 5 Championship Riding Late Second Quarter Surge Over La Salle

 Guru Note: Splitting the Report in Two Parts Since This the Only Local and Long Since Over and the Guru, the Manager of the Men’s Hoops Team Winning the ‘69 NIT in NYC Being Celebrated This Weekend Has to Go Up the Street for the Reunion Dinner.

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA – As opposed to earlier seasons, there was an element of doubt coming into Friday morning’s Big 5 women’s game, the first in this pod and second overall, here at Temple between the defending champion Owls and La Salle.

On Wednesday, in the other pod, Drexel at home playing nearby Penn quickly dismantled the Quakers, playing their neighborhood rival from four blocks away for the first time in six seasons.

Attention then turned to this contest in which for one, the visiting Explorers (3-1) had gotten off to a vastly improved start, the benefit of returning eight players as opposed to 12 months ago when it was a getting to know you experience for a team mostly devoid of the group previously on the roster.

For two, though Temple (3-1) gorged itself with Georges at home the first week, rallying and beating defending Atlantic 10 champion George Mason in overtime and then routing George Washington, the Owls then were wiped out Tuesday night in Big 12 country, returning last year’s visit traveling to West Virginia and suffering through an 89-61 debacle.

So, a question mark clearly hung over this meeting as to whether La Salle might make it a contest or Temple with a size and speed advantage would regroup and take a first step toward making it two titles in a row in the revised format begun last year from the total round-robin that was the City Series minus Drexel, which was finally welcomed on the men’s side in 2023-24 to the Big 5, the women becoming part of the local collegiate family last year.

As it turned out, both traits showed in an energized arena atmosphere, the Owls also using the game for their annual Education Day promotion drawing hundreds of school children in the region.

“I really liked it in here,” said junior Jaleesa Molina, a native of the Netherlands.

La Salle, making the trip down Broad Street from several miles away and hoping to snap an 0-10 streak in the series, opened competitively and past the midpoint of the second period playing Temple womano-womano until the Owls drove from a 20-20 tie with 4:06 left in the half to build a 34-24 lead at the break, courtesy of a 16-4 run.

The home team kept the pressure up the rest of the way, leading as much as 15 at the end of the third quarter and 21 deep into the fourth on the way to a 75-54 victory.

“It was a hard-core game,” said Temple coach Diane Richardson. “La Salle came in here on a hot streak, came firing up in the first quarter, we had to take some time to adjust but ended up winning the game, playing Temple basketball.

“We’ve started games slow because we’re taking quick shots and not executing the offense to get us better shots,” Richardson said. “And we’ve got to work on that. And that’s what happened when we went into the second quarter. Let’s slow down, execute, make them play defense and it worked well for us.”

Junior guard Kaylah Turner scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Owls, while transfer 6-1 forward Saniyah Craig, the native from Phoenix and transfer from Jacksonville of the same American Conference as Temple, scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, part of the Owls’ overwhelming 54-34 advantage on the boards.

Craig was 4-for-8 from the field as was Molina, also as hot, shooting 4-7 with 11 points and 10 boards. Reserve sophomore guard Kelian Cedano also put 11 points into the Owls’ scoring total.

“We know that La Salle, from the guards to the bigs, likes to rebound,” Craig said. “So, we just focused on rebounding, and that’s what we did today.”

Of making her debut in a Big Five game, Craig said, “I really liked my first Big 5 game. I heard a lot about the Big 5 and I know we won the championship last year and it’s a pride thing and we just gonna keep winning and win again this year.”

Temple was also disruptive to La Salle’s offense limiting the Explorers to 32.3% from the field on 21-65 while the home team was 27-68 for 39.7%.

“Our game plan was about just guarding the three and having no back doors,” Molina said. “The first half, we didn’t do that, but the second half, we stepped up. We did not let them go back door and made it hard for them to score the ball.”

Besides rebounding, which was one of the areas Richardson sought improvement, landing Craig from the portal, was to get more depth with a more productive bench, whose performance against the Explorers pleased the Temple coach.

“Our second team came in, and you saw the energy there, you saw them in their confidence and they scored,” she said. “That’s what we need throughout this whole season is to be able to have an equal opportunity offense all the way through.”

Aryss Macktoon scored 16 points for the visitors, but on 7-for-20 shooting while Ashleigh Connor scored 14, freshman Kiara Williams scored 11, but Joan Quinn had two points on 1-for-5 from the field in 28 minutes of action.

“They did a good job disrupting things and doing what they do on the boards,” said La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray, once again coaching against his alma mater. “The game came down to field goal percentage. They bothered us a little bit around the basket, but I think we were capable of doing a little bit better.

“It changes the game if we could make some shots. They played some really good competition so far, so they were ready for this, while this was a step-up competition for us.”

The Explorers’ wins came on the road over Loyola of Maryland and Lehigh of the Patriot League and at home meeting Saint Francis, Pa., of the Northeast Conference.

“Their athleticism, their length, their speed caught us a little bit off guard, but I was pleased we competed from beginning to end,” MacGillivray said.

Comparing Temple to a year ago, he said, “They’re a lot better. They’re more athletic, they get more out of their guards, they’re longer in the paint. They’re the best rebounding team we’ve seen; they’re a legit team so it’s a big step up for us.”

La Salle hosts Division II West Chester from the area at its John E. Glaser Arena on Tuesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+, as Associate Head Coach Chris Day goes against his alma mater, and then Saturday, a week away at 1 p.m. on ESPN+, hosts the Patriot League’s American U, now coached by Kelly Killion, the longtime associate head coach to Penn’s Mike McLaughlin, for whom she starred when he had Holy Family as a national D-2 powerhouse out of Northeast Philadelphia.

Temple travels to Atlantic 10 favorite Richmond on Tuesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN+, the host Spiders recently made their Associated Press women’s poll debut last month in the preseason rankings before falling out this week in the first in-season media vote after losing at No. 4 Texas.

Then next Saturday the Owls are at Villanova at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ where a win would put them as a top seed playing again for the Big 5 Classic championship at Villanova on Sunday, Dec. 7.

Looking Ahead Locally

On Saturday Penn is at Hofstra at Hempstead, N.Y. on Long Island at 1 p.m. on FloCollege, while Rider will look to snap an early two-game losing streak, playing the last of a three-game road trip in New England visiting Bryant in Rhode Island at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.

Lehigh hosts America East favorite Vermont at 1 p.m. on ESPN+ at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.

On Sunday, Saint Joseph’s hosts Penn State at 2 p.m. at Hagan Arena on ESPN+, while at the same time Drexel hosts Loyola, Md., at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Flo College, and Villanova is at Sun Belt favorite James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va., on ESPN+, an opponent familiar to Wildcats coach Denise Dillon from when the Dukes were in the then-called Colonial (now Coastal) Athletic Association and she was coaching Drexel.

Ivy favorite Princeton is at No. 9 Maryland in College Park at 1 p.m. on B1G+ while at the same time on the same network, Rutgers hosts defending NEC champion FDU, coached by former Villanova star Stephanie Gaitley, at the Scarlet Knights’ Jersey Mike’s Arena, and at 2 p.m. Lafayette is at St. Francis, Pa. On ESPN+.