Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. ? Tiera DeLaHoussaye led a band of four Broncos with 18 points and a season-matching five steals in Western Michigan's, 72-68, dramatic loss to Temple at University Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Broncos battled back valiantly from double-digit deficits for most of the second half and outscored the Owls in the paint (33-32), off turnovers (22-11), off the bench (23-17) and on fast breaks (21-8).
Western Michigan (3-7) battled back from 13-point deficits twice in the second half to get within one basket of tying the game on three occasions. With 9:33 left in the game, Temple's (5-6) Ashley Morris hit a jumper to put her Owls up, 53-40, matching their largest lead of the game.
“I just have a great deal of pride in our effort, our defense, our progress and where this team might be going. We needed to knock down a few more shots, and when that comes around with the effort we had on defense, we won't have to rely on free throws as much,” commented head coach Ron Stewart after the game.
“We played a zone today and we had prepared for their personnel. Even though it is a loss, I am really pleased with the progress between practice and performance. We did not have much slippage between what we practiced and how we played, and that is very encouraging. Temple is a very good basketball team and we gave them everything they could handle.”
DeLaHoussaye scored a pair of WMU's 33 points in the paint on the Broncos' next possession. Jenny Loney hit a three at the 8:42 mark to knock Temple's lead back into single digits, 53-45, but Temple took control, pushing the lead back to 12 points on a Jasmine Stone lay up.
WMU chipped away at the Owls' lead, getting it back down under 10 on another DeLaHoussaye lay up. With a little over two minutes remaining and the Broncos trailing by six, Sarah Dreher scored two of her 10 points on a jumper to cut the lead to four. After a missed jumper by LaKeisha Eaddy, Ebony Cleary came down and scored on a lay up to put Western Michigan within a bucket. Cleary also finished in double figures with 13 points. In fact, four Broncos finished in double figures to just two for Temple. Eaddy led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting.
DeLaHoussaye cut the deficit in half on a lay up after Temple had pushed it back to four points on a pair of free throws. WMU's final chance came with 11 second remaining. Down by three, Molly Dwyer drove the lane but missed the lay up that would have kept pressure on the Owls. Morris hit one of two free throws at the other end to seal the road win.
Western Michigan scored nine points off used 13 first-half Temple turnovers to hang around during a half that saw the home team shoot 23.1 percent (6-of-26) from the field. Despite the poor shooting to start the game, WMU found itself trailing, 35-25, heading into the locker room. WMU went with out a field goal for a five and a half minute stretch but key free throws by Sarah Vest, the fourth Bronco to finish with double digits in the scoring column (10), and Dwyer allowed her team to stay in the game. Vest was 6-for-8 from the line in the first half, while Dwyer was a perfect 6-for-6.
It was the exact same score has last year's first-ever meeting between the two programs. Unlike last season, when WMU managed just 10 second-half points, the Broncos out-scored Temple, 43-37, in the second half.
Temple, now 8-1 all-time against MAC teams, can attribute its double-digit lead at the break to being hot from outside. The Owls went 4-for-6 from beyond the arc to WMU's 1-for-6 effort. They shot 44.8 percent from the floor during the first 20 minutes but cooled off in the second, shooting just 38.9 percent. Morris joined Eaddy in double figures with 19 and Shenita Landry contributed 10 rebounds in the win.
The Broncos are the fourth Mid-American Conference team to face the Owls this season. Heading into today, Temple had won by an average margin of 34 points against Central Michigan (83-45), Ball State (72-48) and Kent State (74-34). The four-point win is Temple's closest this season and WMU's 68 points are the most a MAC team has scored on the Owls in 2007-08. In fact, the Brown & Gold's point total is the most allowed by their Atlantic 10 opponent all year.
DeLaHoussaye was the cause of four of the Owls' turnovers in the first half as she had four steals to go along with four points and a pair of rebounds. Vest led the Broncos' offensive effort over the first frame, scoring eight points.
Stewart will look for his 150th-career victory on Dec. 22 when his Broncos travel to Chicago State for a showdown with the Cougars at 2 p.m. (ET) at the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center.
