Temple Women's Basketball Tops Rhode Island, 48-34, For Fourth Straight Win :: Comfort grabs a career-high 14 rebounds in the win

Jan. 27, 2008

Kingston, R.I.- Leading by just two points early in the second half, the Temple women's basketball team used a 17-0 run to break the game wide open and earn a 48-34win over the Rhode Island Rams (9-11, 2-3 A-10) on Sunday afternoon. Lady Comfort was a monster on the boards, grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds to give the Owls their fourth straight win and improve to 11-10 overall, 4-1 in Atlantic 10 play. Ashley Morris was TU's top scorer with nine points and five assists, while Shenita Landry and LaKeisha Eaddy each contributed eight points.

The Owls had a 44-26 advantage on the boards and had 12 steals as opposed to URI's six.

Thanks to a 43.5% shooting clip, the Owls took an eight point lead into halftime, an advantage that could have been a lot larger had Temple been a little more successful at the free throw line. The Cherry and White made just four of 10 shots from the charity stripe, two of which were one-and-one opportunities. The squad was a tad better in the second half, but finished with a horrid 8-for-21 free throw result. Shooting from the field was much better in the first half, however, as TU made just eight second-half field goals to finish with a 34.6% shooting performance.

Temple began the game with a 5-0 run, sparked by an Ashley Morris trey at 19:40. Amanda McGrew finally got the Rams on the board at 18:05 but TU continued to roll, forcing four URI turnovers in the first five minutes and taking a 9-2 lead by 15:40. The Owls began to cool a bit in the next few minutes, committing a few turnovers of their own, and allowing Rhode Island to cut the lead to four points (11-8) with just under 12 minutes to play. Though the Owls were able to maintain the lead for the remainder of the half, the Rams certainly didn't make it easy for them, instituting a full court press that caused multiple turnovers and hasty, off-balance shots. Two free throws by Crystal Bellinger made it a two-point game 18-16 at the six minute mark, the smallest margin of the game, but the Owls responded with two straight treys to give themselves an eight point cushion, 24-16, at 4:21. The final four minutes of the half were fairly uneventful, as just two points were scored between the two squads, allowing for a 26-18 score at the break.

Temple came out flat in the second half, failing to score until 16:12 and allowing the Rams to go on a 6-0 run to close the gap to two points, 26-24 just three and a half minutes in. The Owls continued to struggle offensively, unable to sink a field goal for five more minutes but were able to gain points at the free throw line, quite a departure from the first half. Just when it seemed that the Rams were going to take control of the game, the Owls finally began to play its game and open up a commanding lead. A three-point play and subsequent steal by Comfort helped to spark a 17-0 run and give the Owls a 21-point, 48-27 lead, by the three minute mark. Mojidi sank a three-pointer with two and a half minutes to play to give the Rams their first points in 10 minutes and end the Temple rout. As the Cherry and White bench filed in, Mojidi was able to get her team as close as 14 points, scoring the final seven points of the game for the 48-34 result.

Mojidi led Rhode Island with 15 points, thanks to a eight-for-eight performance from the free throw line. Whitney Hollis had a team-high eight rebounds.

Temple returns home to face A-10 and Philadelphia Big Five rival Saint Joseph's on Wednesday, January 30th at 7 p.m. The Owls are currently 2-0 in city series play after knocking off Villanova and Penn earlier in the season.