Women's Basketball Wins Big Over Kennesaw State

Wednesday, January 4

Kennesaw, Ga.

2:00 p.m.

Temple University

10-3

Kennesaw State

1-13

Temple

Kennesaw State

Photo by: Zamani Feelings

Women's Basketball Wins Big Over Kennesaw State

1.4.17 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

KENNESAW, Ga. -- The Temple women's basketball team won its sixth-straight game, topping Kennesaw State 79-38 on Tuesday afternoon on the road. The win improves the cherry and white to 10-3 overall, the best start for the program since opening the 2009-10 season 10-2. Kennesaw falls to 1-13 on the season with the loss.

Temple forced a season-high 27 turnovers in the Owls vs. Owls battle, also holding Kennesaw to just 30.2% (13-43) from the field. The cherry and white finished the game with a 46-31 advantage on the glass, shooting 44.8% (26-58) from the field.

Junior Donnaizha Fountain led all players with 20 points, making 4-of-6 from long-range, also adding eight rebounds and five steals. Senior Feyonda Fitzgerald notched her third-straight double-double, tallying 17 points with 10 assists, while junior Tanaya Atkinson also had a double-double, with 17 points and 12 boards. Freshman Shantay Taylor tallied eight points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes of work, while senior Ruth Sherrill chipped in with seven points. Freshman Takora McIntrye broke into the scoring column for the first time in her collegiate career, notching two points with a steal and an assist.

Temple opened the first quarter with eight unanswered points, and did not slow down. The Owls went up 14 on a three from Fountain and Kennesaw got no closer than an 11-point deficit, as Temple led 23-9 after 10.

The cherry and white defense allowed only six Kennesaw State points in the second quarter, while Temple's offense continued to roll. Fountain hit a pair of threes midway through the frame, sandwiching a three from junior Khadijah Berger, to put Temple on top by 20. From there, Temple used a 13-3 run to close the quarter with a 30-point, 45-15 advantage.

Fountain led all scorers with 16 first-half points on 6-of-8 shooting. Her stat line topped Kennesaw as a team, which combined to shoot 6-of-21 (28.6%) for 15 points in the half. Fitzgerald added eight points and seven assists in the first 20 minutes.

After the break, the Owls out-scored Kennesaw State 17-15 in the third quarter, slightly increasing the advantage to 32 points (62-30). In the fourth, it was all
Temple, as TU put away Kennesaw with a 17-8 run, ending the game with a 41-point advantage.

Today's win was the first 40+ point win for Temple since the Owls topped Delaware State, 100-50 on December 19, 2015. It tied that result for the largest Temple win since an 84-41 win over Rhode Island on February 19, 2012.

Temple gets right back into American Athletic Conference play on Sunday, hosting visiting Tulane at McGonigle Hall. Both teams are receiving votes in the latest USA Today poll, and the match-up will be broadcast on ESPN2.

Box Score (PDF)