TTN: Owls suffer from shooting woes in loss to Nova

http://temple-news.com/sports/2011/12/22/owls-suffer-from-shooting-woes-in-loss-to-nova/

(December 22, 2011)
The women’s basketball team shot a season-low field goal percentage (25.5) in its 56-47 loss to the Villanova Wildcats on Thursday at McGonigle Hall.

While Tuesday night’s game against UCLA found senior guard Shey Peddy on the ground in the final seconds throwing up a prayer to ice the game, tonight’s game against Villanova wasn’t so wonderfully ugly.

Peddy was knocked to the ground more than her point total, 13, in a physically grueling loss to the Owls’ Big Five rival, 56-47. She ended up shooting a paltry three of 14 from the floor.
“It just wasn’t falling like I wish they were,” Peddy said.

“Yeah, it was pretty physical,” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “Every other play we had someone knocked down. I thought they were out for good.”

The Wildcats out-hustled, out-worked and physical beat down Temple in a game that was rarely close from the beginning, with the visiting squad jumping out to a 9-0 in less than three minutes. Villanova never looked back, and their lead dipped down to two just once all night.

“Obviously that’s not how we wanted to come out and perform today,” Cardoza said. “Credit to them. They did a really good job of taking advantage of mismatches and defensive clogging the lane and not letting our guys really get any clean looks inside on drives.”

“We have trouble running our offense against them, because they’re such a good defensive team in terms of their lateral movement,” Villanova coach Harry Perretta said. “So what we tried to do today was take that out of the game, throw the ball to our post kids.”

The loss drops the Owls to 5-6 and 0-1 in the Big Five. With the victory the Wildcats took a commanding 3-0 lead in the race for the Big Five Championship with one more game against Penn.

“This really hurts, because this was an important game for the Big Five championship,” senior guard Kristen McCarthy said.

McCarthy lead the game with 14 points, bringing her within eight points of fifth place in school history. She also recorded seven rebounds.

“That’s really the least of my concerns,” McCarthy said about the points record.

Villanova came out aggressively from the start and never let off the gas until the final buzzer. The team shot 37.7 percent on the night, including 48.1 percent in the first half. Redshirt freshman Emily Leer tied for a team-high 13 points, setting a career high.

“I just thought the game today was a battle,” Leer said. “Big Five games always are, and all the girls played really, really hard.”

“We had a talk yesterday, and I told her just keep doing the things she’s been doing,” Perretta said.
After falling behind quickly 9-0 in the first half the Owls clawed back with their own 7-0 run. But that was as close as they could get, just over four minutes into the game. The Wildcats quickly responded with another 11-0 run and Temple never got within six for the rest of the half. The second half was much of the same, with Villanova struggling to make shots but the home team only knocked the deficit to four points once.

After the game Cardoza was noticeably upset about the way her team focused and the effort they showed. She was not afraid to call out her three senior leaders—McCarthy, Peddy and senior guard BJ Williams.

“A lot of times we have a lot of guards out there that stand around and watch and don’t really look to attack,” Cardoza said. “But [Villanova] do a really good job of putting bodies on people and making sure they don’t get offensive boards.”

Throughout the game the Owls struggled to connect from three, and even had problems spreading the ball to the outside, consistently settling for jumpers or trying to drive the lane. The team has averaged 4.9 a game this season, noticeably lower than last year when then-senior guard Qwedia Wallace set a school record with 162 career three’s.

“Defensively we were a better team last year because [we had Wallace and forward Marli Bennett] who were smart defenders,” Cardoza said. “And we missed that today.”

The Owls shot just 25.5 percent from the floor on the night. Villanova’s bench was the key, as they outscored Temple’s bench 24-6.

“We’re much deeper than we were last year, and we’re committing ourselves to running more,” Perretta said.

“Today we were somewhere else mentally,” Cardoza said. “We weren’t focused in on how we were going to defend them.”

The Owls have eight days to rest, heal and regroup before they host No. 9 Duke on Dec. 30 in McGonigle Hall.

Jake Adams can be reached at jacob.adams@temple.edu.

TTN: Women’s basketball downs UCLA

http://temple-news.com/sports/2011/12/20/womens-basketball-downs-ucla/

(December 20, 2011)

The Owls (5-5) held a lead against UCLA for nearly the entire game as they went on to win 59-53 on Tuesday at McGonigle Hall.

CONNOR SHOWALTER TTN Coach Tonya Cardoza congratulates freshman guard Monaye Merritt for her game performance (four points, two rebounds, two assists, and two steals) at the press conference.

The shot should never have had a chance in the world to fall, but the heave that left senior guard Shey Peddy’s hands as she fell to the floor in front of the foul line somehow found the nylon.

“I was going to try to beat [the defender], but she cut me off,” Peddy said. “[I tried] a step-back move but my knee buckled and I just knew I was falling. I didn’t want to turn it over so I just knew if I threw it on the rim somebody would get it, and it just went in.”

Peddy was nearly on her back when she put up the prayer shot with 15 seconds left in the game and her team clinging to a 56-53 lead against UCLA. The Bruins were on a 10-2 run and were looking for the dagger to tie the game before Temple’s leading scorer stuck her own dagger, proving once again why she’s on the early-season watch list for the Naismith Award.

“You know, you’ve got to work on junk shots,” Peddy said with a smile. “They might come in handy sometimes.”

It was a near mirror of the first half as well, when Peddy put up a runner to beat the buzzer that put her team up 29-25 at the break and stopped an 8-2 Bruins’ run.

Temple took the momentum Peddy gave them after halftime and kicked off the second half with a 9-1 run.

“I thought that was really good because we started showing emotion with each other,” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “You could see the fire in each other, like when someone made a great play or a big shot,”

But UCLA didn’t back down, coming within four or fewer points six times in the final 16 minutes. But Peddy made six of Temple’s last eight points that slowed the bleeding. Her 18th point of the night stopped it all together at 58-53.

“They’re a really tough team. They pushed us all the way to the edge,” Cardoza said. “But today I thought that our guys just fought to the very end. We didn’t back down.”

It was an unusually night for the Owls. UCLA converted 41.1 percent of their shots, including 60 percent from three-point land, something Temple doesn’t allow often.

“They’re all shooters and we tried to limit their shots and switch on the screens,” Peddy said. “But I think for the most part we stuck to the plan and we executed pretty good.”

Cardoza also had to rely on freshman guard Monaye Merritt more than usual. Merritt played a season-high 20 minutes after senior guard Kristen McCarthy sat most of the first half in foul trouble. McCarthy scored seven points, leaving her 12 points out of fifth place on the all-time points list in school history.

When Merritt re-entered the game in the second half, UCLA targeted her relentlessly in a full-court press.

“I think that coach put me in the game because she believes in me and has confidence in me, and gives me a boost to have even more confidence in myself,” Merritt said. “So for them to put full-court pressure on me, it’s just like practice with [Peddy] or BJ [Williams] guarding me. It’s get the ball up the floor, do what you have to do.”

The Owls also received little offense help from the centers, junior Victoria Macaulay and senior Joelle Connelly. The duo went scoreless and tallied 11 combined rebounds.

“It’s just a mindset and being confident and finishing,” Cardoza said. “Right now it’s something simple and easy, and they’re making it more than it really is. I think right now it’s just in their heads, and they’ve just got to let it go.”

Fortunately for the Owls, senior guard BJ Williams and junior forward Brittany Lewis picked up the slack. Williams recorded 13 points and a game-high nine assists, while Lewis tacked on 15 points.

Meanwhile Bruins’ sophomore guard Thea Lemberger and junior forward Markel Walker led the Bruins with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Walker also had a game-high eight rebounds.

The Owls return to action on Thursday against rival Villanova in their fourth game of their five-game home stand. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.

Jake Adams can be reached at jacob.adams@temple.edu.

TTN: Women’s basketball cruises over Kent State

http://temple-news.com/sports/2011/12/07/womens-basketball-cruises-over-kent-state/

(December 7, 2011)

It took just 12 seconds for the women’s basketball team to fall behind to Kent State, and another 19 seconds to make sure it was the only time that would happen.

After a quick layup by Golden Flashes’ junior forward Diamon Beckford to start the game the Owls answered with a dismantling 15-0 run and never looked back. Thanks to a defense that seemed to be two steps ahead of Kent State all game long Temple walked away with a comfortable 68-33 victory at home on Tuesday.

Junior forward Natasha Thames missed the game due to an injury she sustained in the Owls previous game against Auburn. Thames will sit out for the remainder of the year and the specific injury was unreleased.

“I thought that was one of the best defensive games we played this year,” coach Tonya Cardoza said. “I thought we did a really good job of getting out and pressuring their passers, getting in the passing lanes, and making things difficult for them.”

Kent State didn’t score their second basket until freshman guard Itziar Llobet drained a three halfway through the first half. After getting the score to 19-10 off a trey by Beckford the Owls went on another 11-0 run, with senior guard Shey Peddy tacking on six of 13 points during the stretch.

“I felt pretty good,” Peddy said. “My shot wasn’t falling so I tried to make up for it on defense and do all the little things.”

Peddy was all over the floor for the Owls in a game that the home team led by as many as 37. She recorded another four steals, bringing her total to 26 on the season. But she was outshined in that department by a surprising six steals by senior guard BJ Williams.

“It’s okay,” Peddy said with a smile. “She’s entitled to one game.”

Peddy at times seemed like she was trying to play center, recording multiple rebounds under the basket in traffic. She finished the game with a season-high seven rebounds, two behind junior center Victoria Macaulay on the night.

As a whole, Owls dominated in nearly every category, especially on defense. Temple controlled the paint with 52 rebounds compared to 24 by the Golden Flashes and forced 24 turnovers. Kent State was also held to a dismal 28.3-percent shooting.

“I thought for the most part we understood what they were going to be running and we had to be in position to make sure that we help out,” Cardoza said. “And I definitely thought that we did a good job of clogging the lane.”

Temple got tremendous help from second-chance points—22 compared to Kent State’s five—and outscored the Golden Flashes in the paint 40-12.

Junior forward Brittany Lewis led the game with 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and tacked on five rebounds. She’s quietly become the Owls third leading scorer averaging 8.33 points per game.

“I think [Williams and Peddy] do a good job of finding the open person and tonight that’s what it was,” Lewis said.

Senior guard Kristen McCarthy recorded another 13 points on the night, boosting her career total to 1,310 and 23 points shy of fifth in school history.

The win is the Owls’ second straight. The team is in the middle of a roller-coaster season, having bookended a five-game road losing streak with two consecutive wins.

“I feel our confidence is way higher than it was last month,” Peddy said. “Hopefully we don’t go back to how we played last month.”

In Temple’s four wins this season they have held their opponents to 46 points a game and outscored them by an average of 22.75 points. In contrast, the Owls allowed 65.8 points per game and lost by 8.8 points on average.

The team hopes to continue their winning streak during winter break when they face UCLA (Dec. 20), Villanova (Dec. 22) and No. 7 Duke (Dec. 30) at home. The two weeks off comes at a rough time for an Owls team that feels like they’ve just found their groove heading into three challenging matchups.

“Now I think these guys are getting more confidence and understanding exactly what we need to do to win basketball games,” Cardoza said. “It just stinks that we have to go to break now.”

Jake Adams can be reached at jacob.adams@temple.edu.

TTN: Late game miscues cost Owls in losses

http://temple-news.com/sports/2011/11/29/late-game-miscues-cost-owls-in-losses/

(November 29, 2011)

The women’s basketball team traveled to the Bahamas to play St. John’s and the NCAA defending champion Texas A&M.

Well this certainly wasn’t a part of the game plan.Looking at the first few games of the season and the roster that the women’s basketball team was bringing to the court, it would have been pretty tough to imagine the team being 2-4 with a four-game losing streak this early in the season.Coach Tonya Cardoza agreed it wasn’t the way she thought the Owls would start off the year.

“Looking at the schedule, I knew No. 5 Texas A&M was going to be one of those teams where we had to do everything right, and we didn’t,” Cardoza said. “But the other games [against No. 24 Ohio State, Northern Illinois and St. John’s] I definitely thought if we played a little smarter and we did things a little bit better, they’re definitely winnable games.”

Granted, the Owls faced defending national champion Texas A&M last Friday at the Junkanoo Jam in Freeport, Bahamas. If Temple would have come away with the upset it would have been one of the best wins in the history of the program.

St. John’s isn’t a pushover either, but it was hard to imagine the Owls losing four straight, much less losing four straight the way they did.

Temple has been hit hard by the turnover bug in their four losses, something that was rare last season. They’ve averaged 18.75 turnovers in the past four games including 27 against Texas A&M, whereas last year they averaged just 13.6. But turnovers haven’t been the only problem.

“It’s not one thing, I think it’s a few things,” Cardoza said. “We’ve been turning the ball over a lot and that’s something that we didn’t do at all last year.”

“And we’ve committed some really, really bad fouls,” she added. “I would say the thing we really have to improve on is being mentally tougher down the stretch.”

The Owls have not been mentally tough the past few games. Against the Buckeyes, Temple cut a 16-point deficit down to two in the final seconds, but lost. At Northern Illinois they held a 9-point lead midway through the first half, and a one-point lead at half, but lost. Against the Aggies they cut a 20-point deficit to just four points with less than three minutes remaining, but lost. And Saturday against St. John’s, the Owls held a five-point lead with just 11 minutes left, but lost.

I sense a trend.

“I think it’s concentration, taking care of the ball late in games, being smarter basketball players, not committing fouls that are unnecessary and just learning how to win,” Cardoza said about the team’s inability to close out games.

At the same time Cardoza did feel that they got slighted on at least one occasion, against Texas A&M in the final minutes.

“We didn’t get calls that we should have gotten,” she said. “I’m not one to ever complain about the officiating, but in that game there definitely were calls that should have gone our way that were overlooked and I just didn’t think it was fair.”

But this team can’t afford to make excuses too often. This is a senior-heavy team with loads of experience and talent. Senior guards Shey Peddy and Kristen McCarthy have started right where they left off last year, averaging 13.3 and 13.5 points per game, respectively. So there are few excuses to be had.

Yes, the schedule hasn’t been friendly in recent weeks, but the coaching staff and players knew this going in and still expected to win. Wednesday’s game against No. 13 Rutgers won’t be any easier.

“We have got to get back to winning and Wednesday will be a perfect game for us,” Cardoza said. “It’s going to be a good game and I’m hoping that we do all the right things and get back to our winning ways.”

It’s too early to panic just yet, but if there’s a time to right the ship, beating their across-the-border rival would have been a good start.

Jake Adams can be reached at jake.adams@temple.edu.

TTN: Women’s basketball comes up short in late comeback at Ohio State

http://temple-news.com/sports/2011/11/19/womens-basketball-comes-up-short-in-late-comeback-at-ohio-state/

(November 19, 2011)

Coach Tonya Cardoza was not pleased with her team’s performance against No. 24/25 Ohio State on Friday.

The women’s basketball team dropped their first game of the season to the Buckeyes, 70-66, in a game that was sloppy and uncharacteristic of the way the Owls played in their first two games.

“When you’re playing a team like Ohio State on their home floor you have to do just about everything right,” Cardoza said. “We committed some of the dumbest fouls in the first half, where two of our better players are sitting on the bench with 10 minutes left in the first half.”

Temple had 21 personal fouls compared to Ohio State’s 12. Cardoza was not thrilled with the way her team rebounded, especially on the offensive end, while the box score after the game indicated otherwise—39 to 37 in favor of the Owls.

“Early on we gave up offensive rebounds that hurt us,” Cardoza said. “Down the stretch we didn’t give up those offensive rebounds and we were able to secure the rebound and go down to the other end and score.”

Temple found themselves down 36-28 at the half despite having a lead four times and things didn’t start out much better in the second half. After a 6-0 Owls run the Buckeyes responded with an 11-0 run and eventually pushed the lead to 15.

The Owls answered right back, chipping away at the lead but the Buckeyes kept fighting with small runs of their own. Finally the Owls managed to cut the lead to 68-66 in the final seconds after Peddy made back-to-back three’s but that was all they could manage. Buckeyes’ senior guard Samantha Prahalis iced the game with two final free throws.

“I really don’t know where [the energy] came from,” Cardoza said about the team’s second-half effort. “I wish it was there to start the game.”

Overall the Owls played fairly well in their first game against a ranked team this season. Temple made 40 percent of their shots while holding the Buckeyes to just under 40 percent, and they also made three of their 18 attempts from beyond the arc.

But defense and sloppy play hurt the Owls. Ohio State went to the line for 31 free throws, converting 25 of those attempts, while Temple committed 16 costly turnovers. The Buckeyes received solid offensive production from Prahalis and junior guard Tayler Hill, who scored 20 points and 24 points, respectively.

“Our strategy was to try and keep them out of the paint and they got too many points in the paint,” Cardoza said. “We just have to do a better job of knowing personnel and knowing how to defend.”

The Owls’ trio of senior guards BJ Williams, Kristen McCarthy and Shey Peddy were not nearly as dominant as their first two games. Williams had the best all around game with 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Peddy struggled the most with just eight points, all of them coming in the second half, before her fifth foul on the night. McCarthy led the team with 14 points on 50-percent shooting.

Despite the late comeback, there was very little positive Cardoza saw from the game.

“We expected to win the game, so it’s not a moral victory,” she said.

The Owls will stay on the road this weekend as they travel to Northern Illinois on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m.

Jake Adams can be reached at jacob.adams@temple.edu.