Women’s Basketball Suffers Second-Half Cold Spell in 66-43 Loss at Charlotte

Wednesday, February 6

Charlotte, N.C.

7:00 PM

Temple University

10-12, 3-4 A-10

Charlotte

17-4, 6-1 A-10

Temple

Charlotte

Victoria Macaulay

Photo by: Mitchell Leff

Women’s Basketball Suffers Second-Half Cold Spell in 66-43 Loss at Charlotte

2.6.13 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Unable to come up with anything on offense for a long stretch to close out the game, Temple women's basketball suffered a 66-43 loss at Charlotte (17-4, 6-1) on Wednesday night. Victoria Macaulay scored 15 points to lead the Owls (10-12, 3-4), but was not on the court for nearly the last six minutes after being whistled for five fouls.

Natasha Thames came up with a career-high 15 rebounds for Temple, along with eight points while playing the full 40 minutes. Tyonna Williams scored nine points for the Owls.

Ny Hammonds scored a game-high 16 points to lead Charlotte, while Jennifer Hailey finished with a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds.

The second half shooting for the Owls (5-of-24) was their worst of the season. Temple did not hit a field goal for over 12 minutes to end the game, and scored no points in the final nine minutes. Three-point shooting was bad for both teams, but Charlotte hit 2-of-10 while the Owls went 0-for-11.

After an early 4-4 tie, the 49ers took a lead they would hold the rest of the game. The Owls kept it close most of the first half, never trailing by more than four for the first 12 minutes of the game. Temple was within a point, 15-14 at 9:26 before an 8-2 run by the 49rs increased the gap to seven with six and a half minutes left in the first half.

The game continued to swing back and forth, with the Owls coming within three points before trailing by eight near the three-minute mark.

Macaulay and Rateska Brown hit back-to-back layups to make it 29-25 Charlotte with 1:20 to go in the half, but the 49ers finished out the remaining time with a pair of buckets for a 33-25 lead at the break.

Macaulay led all players with 11 points at halftime, while Thames had collected nine rebounds at the break. Despite out-rebounding Charlotte 23-15 in the first half including an 11-6 edge on the offensive glass, the Owls finished with just a two-point edge in second-chance points, 6-4.

With a pair of jumpers early in the second half, Williams put the Owls back within five, 34-29 at 17:36. From there the offense came more intermittently for Temple, and before the 15-minute mark the 49ers took their first double-digit lead on a pair of free throws from Amanda Dowe.

The pace of the second half suffered with numerous fouls on both teams. The Owls were called for 10 in the first 11 minutes, while Charlotte had eight. Macaulay was pulled after getting her fourth foul at 5:40. The 49ers went to the line for 14 opportunities in that stretch, hitting 11 of them.

After trailing by double digits, the Owls were able to come within no fewer than nine points as the Charlotte defense clamped down the rest of the way.

Macaulay hit a field goal at 12:21 that would be Temple's last. Six free throws for the Owls were the only points in a 20-6 Charlotte run to close out the game, and the sixth of those came with over nine minutes remaining in the game.

Temple will return home for its next game, a 2:00 p.m. contest against Saint Louis on Sunday, Feb. 10 in the Liacouras Center.