PHILADELPHIA – The women’s basketball team Temple returns from a week-and-a-half hiatus to face No. 5 South Carolina in Columbia, SC, on Thursday, December 17 at 7 pm. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
THE OWLS
> The Cherry and White are looking to win their first game of the season against the Gamecocks in fifth place. Temple enters the clash outside the conference at 0-2 in the year.
> Senior Mia Davis 28 points average in the opening games for Owls. In the 78-69 loss to FGCU, the striker recorded his first double-double of the season, with the best of his career, 34 points and 12 rebounds.
> The Baltimore, Maryland native has garnered a lot of pre-season praise this season as she has won seats on the 2020 Cheryl Miller watch list and the Becky Hammon 2020 intermediate player of the year watch list while classified as the American Co-Player of the Year in the Pre-season of the Athletic Conference.
> Freshman Jasha Clinton is Owls’ second biggest scorer with 11.0 points per contest. Virginia Beach rookie Virginia shone in her debut for Cherry and White, collecting 16 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
> Graduation transfer Jada Graves added a spark to Temple on both the offensive and the defensive side. The guard leads the Owls with their 63.6% pitch percentage, while he ties Clinton with five steals in the year.
LAST TIMEOUT: FGCU 78, Temple 69
> Owls led 24-17 at the end of the first quarter, but FGCU would beat Temple in the next three quarters to guarantee victory.
> Temple committed 20 spins in defeat, which equals 21 points in goals for the Eagles.
> FGCU dropped 10 three, despite shooting only 27.8% from a long distance.
> Owls had a slight advantage in the field goal percentage, shooting 41.5% off the ground compared to the Eagles’ 39.7%.
> Temple shot a disappointing 52.2% (12-23) from the foul line.
> Davis recorded his first double-double of the season with a career record of 34 points and 12 rebounds. Davis hit 66.7% (12-18) from the ground with a pair of three.
> Williamson was a bit shy about registering a double-double with his nine-point 11 rebound effort.
> Alexander led all players on the exchanges with his 14 rebounds, the best of his career. The guard also gave seven assists, the best in the game.
> Emani Mayo also added nine points for the owls.
SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA
> Gamecocks have a talented roster, including Lisa Leslie 2019-20 Prize winner Aliyah Boston. The sophomore was nominated for the 2020-21 Lisa Leslie Award watch list, along with the places that won the Wade Trophy and the Naismith Trophy watch lists. Boston leads South Carolina in the rebound column with 9.8 boards per game, while adding 11.0 points per game.
> Also joining his teammate in the Wade Trophy and the Naismith Trophy Watch Lists is the second Zia Cooke. Cooke also won a spot on the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award watch list, an award given to the country’s best firearm. Cooke currently leads South Carolina with 16.6 points per game.
> Destanni Henderson is another top scorer for Gamecocks, averaging 13.4 points per contest. Junior leads his team in assists with 4.6 per game.
> Brea Beal joins Temple’s Mia Davis on the Cheryl Miller Award watch list. Beal is currently averaging 8.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
LAST TIMEOUT: # 1 South Carolina 83, # 23 Iowa State 65
> Zia Cooke led the Gamecocks with 19 points, while Aliyah Boston recorded his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 15 rebounds.
South Carolina opened the game with a 10-0 lead, but the state of Iowa dropped back to 16-15, with 3:07 to go to the end of the first quarter. However, the Gamecocks ran an 11-2 run to close the first 10 minutes of action.
> After the first quarter, South Carolina did not allow the state of Iowa to fall by more than 12 points.
> Gamecocks ended the game by shooting 50% from a long distance and 47.6% from the field.
TEMPLE VS. SOUTH CAROLINA
> South Carolina holds a 5-0 record in the all-time series against Temple.
> The programs met in 2001 and 2002 and did not meet again until 2017.
> In 2001, Temple dropped in a game played to # 23 South Carolina, 68-65, in Columbia, SC. The following season, the Owls dropped 57-39 to # 18 Gamecocks.
> In their first meeting in more than 15 years, SC overcame Temple 87-60 on December 21, 2017. Exactly a year later, Owls dropped almost the same score in South Carolina, while Gamecocks achieved a victory of 88-60.
> Owls almost won their first victory over Gamecocks in 2019, but fell by a slight 78-71 lead at home on December 7.
> South Carolina’s current head coach Dawn Staley was the Owls’ head coach at the 2001 and 2002 meetings between the two programs.
THE LAST TIME THEY FOUND: # 6 South Carolina 78, Temple 71
> The Owls fought in 6th place in South Carolina until the end, losing time when the Gamecocks won the Temple at McGonigle Hall, 78-71, on December 7, 2019.
> Extended Gamecock runs at the end of the first and at the beginning of the fourth proved to be the difference.
> Temple surpassed South Carolina by a small margin (36.6% to 35.1%), but had 19 sales versus nine in South Carolina.
> The Owls also outperformed the Gamecocks, 50-46.
> Graduate Lena Niang recorded his first double-double career with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
> Davis also managed a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, the best in the game.
> Elsewhere, Emani Mayo had a season record of nine points, while Williamson and Alexander each had five. Alexander added six bags and six assists for her team on his stats sheet.
