Women's Basketball Falls To City Rival #20/22 Temple 68-49 :: Cornish paces Hawks with 13 points.

Feb. 10, 2005

PHILADELPHIA - The #20/22 Temple Owls caused problems for Saint Joseph's women's basketball teams on both ends of the court, as the Hawks fell to their city rival 68-49 at The Liacouras Center. The Owls caused 28 Saint Joseph turnovers and had four players score in double figures in route to their 16th straight win.

Temple jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and never looked back as Saint Joseph's would come as close as one, 7-6, the remainder of the game.

Despite trailing 18-10 halfway through the first stanza, the Hawks showed their grit and fought back with a 7-2 run to close the gap to 20-17 on a layup by junior forward Faith Schutte at 6:51.

The Owls responded quickly with a 7-2 run of their own over the next three minutes to take a 27-19 lead on a three pointer by Ashley Morris.

Both teams exchanged baskets over the final three minutes with Temple scoring the final four points of the first half to take a 33-23 lead into the lockerroom.

In the second half, the Owls slowly pulled away from the Hawks, using a 6-0 spurt to take a 48-31 lead with 11:59 remaining.

Temple would extend their lead to as many as 24, 63-39, with Saint Joseph's coming no closer than the final score of 68-49.

For the game, the Hawks shot 38.1 percent from the floor on 16-of-42, while the Owls finished 25-of-52 for 48.1 percent.Despite winning the battle on the boards 31-28, Saint Joseph's was outscored in the paint 32-16. Temple also took advantage of the Hawks poor ball control, turning the 28 turnovers into 17 points.

Individually, sophomore Ayahna Cornish paced Saint Joseph's with a team-high 13 points, six rebounds and four assists. Schutte was the only other Hawk to score in double figures, adding 10.

Senior guard Cynthis Jordan poured in a game-high 15 points, while junior center Candice Dupree poured in a game-high 12 rebounds to go with 13 points. Kamesha Hairston and Morris added 13 and 10 points, respectively.

With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 5-18 on the season and 3-8 in the Atlantic 10. Temple improves to 19-3 and clinches at least a tie for the A-10 East crown with a record of 11-0.

The Hawks will look to rebound when they return to the hardwood Sunday at Fordham.