​By Jesse Dimich-Louvet, OwlSports Update
 
Temple battled, clawed, and rallied but to no avail. After three hours of grueling play, there was little to show for it. The Owls lost 6-1 against the UPenn Quakers at the Hecht Tennis Center in a fairly comprehensible fashion on Wednesday night.
 
Temple began by dropping all three of its doubles matches despite a pair of near comebacks from the number one and three pairings of Delmas/Gorregues and Grollman/Barety losing 7-5 and 6-4, respectively. 
 
In singles, junior and Owls number one Marin Delmas was topped in a 6-4, 6-3 loss against Italian Edoardo Graziania. Leo Raquin was unable to do much more against German number two Jason Hildebrandt losing 6-2, 6-4. The Owls looked sluggish in the opening stanza of the singles.
 
“We need more energy moving into the singles as we started off a little slow.” Head Coach Steve Mauro said.
 
However, the clash of the night was a gritty affair between Gregoire Barety and Aditya Gupta. Following two one-sided sets 6-2 and 1-6, the match was destined to go the distance. With lung-busting rallies and Barety sliding on the hardcourt as if it were clay, the match had all the drama one could ask for. It was just not meant to be for the Owls. Barety lost a nail biter 7-5 in the third set, cementing UPenn's victory.
 
The lone Owls victory came from number five senior Louis Gorregues who claimed an impressive 7-6, 2-6, 10-8 win over Zach Smith. Senior Thibault Frumholz and newcomer Hussein El Tawil also fell in straight sets. 
 
In his 17th year at the helm of the men’s and women’s programs, Coach Mauro was not overly upset with how the night went. “Look, they are a top 30 team, so we know it would be tough,” Mauro exclaimed. “The guys fought hard and we need to keep working hard to get better and be ready against Yale.” 
 
That match against Yale was postponed on Friday thanks to the winter storm. Temple is back on the court at home on February 5th versus St. Francis College of Brooklyn.

​Miles Bailey, OwlSports Update
In what is arguably its best win of the season, the Temple women’s basketball team clawed back from 15 points down to beat the Cincinnati Bearcats on Wednesday night, 68-64.
 
Despite the huge deficit at the beginning of the game, the Owls (9-7, 4-1) managed to make crucial adjustments on the fly.
 
“Just communicating on the defensive side,” said Head Coach Tonya Cardoza. “We were running around and doubling guys that we shouldn’t have been doubling, but more so because we weren’t communicating that we weren’t switching.”
 
The team’s role players contributed during the game, one being Caranda Perea, who had a season-high ten points, which included two three-pointers.
 
Perea was asked about the team’s defensive struggles during the beginning of the game, she said, “It just goes back to communication. We beat ourselves, and we know that. I don’t think Cincinnati did a lot for us, they didn’t really beat us in the first half. We were really beating ourselves, and we knew that.”
 
While these concerns are something that the Owls need to improve upon moving forward, the most important takeaway is that they won the game and it was a team effort all around. It’s Temple’s fourth win in five conference games, leaving them just a half-game out of first place in the American.
 
The Owls outscored Cincinnati 40-28 in the 2nd half.  Mia Davis continues to be the team’s offensive spark plug, as she scored a team-high 22 points despite early foul trouble. She is now just 49 points away from the program scoring record.
 
Jasha Clinton was the team’s second-leading scorer with 14 points and Aniya Gourdine led the team in assists with seven.
 
The Owls will travel to Memphis to take on the Tigers on Saturday at 3pm. Memphis holds a record of 11-6, but the Tigers are 2-4 against conference opponents.

By Harrison Hope, OwlSports Update

The Temple women’s basketball team fell at South Florida Saturday afternoon, despite a career day for Mia Davis. The graduate forward scored 26 points, including a late layup to send the game into overtime, where Temple (8-7, 3-1) eventually fell, 75-67. The loss snaps the Owls three-game win streak.
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The Owls took control in the first quarter scoring 16 points. The Bulls were outworked by the Owls, only having one offensive rebound as opposed to three from Davis alone. This helped the Owls end the first quarter on a 6-0 run and to a 16-11 lead.
Davis did fight foul trouble in the second quarter giving the Bull some momentum heading into the half. South Florida outscored Temple 14-8 in the second frame to take a halftime lead, 25-24.

In the third, Davis checked back into the game scoring some quick buckets. This, combined with Alexa Williamson’s three blocks, helped the Owls stay in this game, despite South Florida’s five-point lead at the end of three quarters, 45-40.
The Owls came out strong in the fourth, starting with an 8-0 run putting them up by 3. Davis scored ten points in this quarter, including a layup to tie the game at 59 with seven seconds to go and sending the game into overtime.

Overtime went to the home team, as the Bulls found too many opportunities in the paint, outscoring Temple 16-8. The Bulls move to 14-5 on the year.
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Davis is now just 70 point shy of Temple’s program record for career points. The Owls are back home Wednesday against Cincinnati.

​By Miles Bailey, OwlSports Update

​It hasn’t been easy for the Temple women’s basketball team to get on the court in 2022. Five games on the schedule with three being postponed due to Covid-19 since January 1st. But when the Owls have found the court, they’ve been perfect. This includes beating a Houston team Saturday afternoon that had won six of its last seven before the trip to McGonigle Hall. With the 62-54 win, Temple is both 2-0 in January and in conference.
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Owls Head Coach Tonya Cardoza was asked about the team’s perseverance through these trying times. “We came back from Christmas, and it was like we were idled for over two weeks,” she said. “But we just tried to stay focus, and focus on the things we really need to work on.”
 
Prior to this rash of postponements, there was a lot to work on. The Owls were 1-3 in the month of December. 
 
“A little concerning, but we’ve been trying to go hard in practice,” said Cardoza. “You know, getting up and down. I know it’s not the same as a game, but for us, it was probably good because guys get to rest their bodies or their ailments.”
 
And now, the Owls (7-6, 2-0) are rolling with a record above 500 for the first time in more than a month. Forward Mia Davis continues to be the team’s offensive spark plug, as she scored a team-high 22 points in the win over the Cougars (9-7, 2-2). 
 
When asked about Mia's impact, Cardoza said, “I mean she is a leader on and off the court. Obviously, she is our go-to player. She knows that she is our go-to player, but she is one of the most unselfish people that you’ll ever be around.”
 
Davis did a lot of the heavy lifting scoring-wise, but multiple players contributed to the team’s win. Forward Alexa Williamson contributed with ten points and a game-high three blocks, and guard Aniya Gourdine scored eight points and had a game-high six assists.
 
And there was also the defensive effort. Houston made just one of its 13 shots from beyond the arc and shot 31 percent from the field overall.
 
The Owls hit the road for this Wednesday's game at East Carolina University. The Pirates have a current record of 7-9 and are riding a three-game losing streak. 

By Miles Bailey, OwlSports Update
 
The Temple Owls defeated the Tulsa Golden Hurricane by a final score of 69-64 on Wednesday night. With the win, they improve their record to 10-6 and extend their current win streak to three games.  
 
It will forever be a memorable night for forward Nick Jourdain, as it was his mother’s birthday. 
 
“My mom told me before this game, it’s her birthday today, she was telling me that all she wants for her birthday is for me to break my career-high,” said Jourdain. 
 
And he did exactly that. The redshirt freshman scored a career-high 23 points. He also contributed to the stat sheet with five rebounds and three blocks. 
 
When asked about his progression as a player, he said, “These coaches and my teammates, everyone is constantly instilling confidence in me. They’ve been telling me. I’ve been doing this since the summer, I’ve put the work in, and I just need to put it into action.” 
 
Through hard work and dedication, Jourdain has earned a great amount of respect from all of his teammates and coaches, especially the head man, coach Aaron McKie. 
 
“He’s emerging. He’s working on his game and getting better, and it takes time, it’s a progression to get to this point,” said McKie, who was back on the bench after missing the last two games thanks to Covid protocol. 
 
While a win is a win, the Owls nearly ended their win streak because of a season-high 18 turnovers.
 
“We talked about it over the last few days,” McKie said. “With these guys, [Tulsa doesn’t] pressure you the way a traditional pressure impact team would. Their zone and their matchup switching just kind of make you a little indecisive.”
 
While Jourdain was the star of the night, this win was a collective effort. After a sluggish start, the Owls most prolific scorer and guard Damian Dunn, started to pick things up in the second half and contributed mightily during the final stretch of the game, as he ended up with 17 points. 
 
Forward Jake Forrester came off the bench for ten minutes and contributed with a pair of rebounds. The Owls had a season-high 11 steals with Dunn and Jeremiah Williams each grabbing three. 
 
This win is now in the rearview mirror, as the Owls will prepare for their game next Wednesday versus the Wichita State Shockers at the Liacouras Center. 
 
After an 8-2 start, Wichita State has now lost four of its last five games that includes a three-game losing streak.