Kaylah Turner's career-high 29 points lead Temple in 88-63 rout of VCU

PHILADELPHIA – When Temple lost guard Tristen Taylor to a sprained left ankle last week, it didn’t just lose its floor general.

It also lost an extension of head coach Diane Richardson on the court.

The Owls struggled to navigate Taylor’s absence in their seven-point loss to Drexel in last Sunday’s Big 5 Classic third-place game, but their matchup against VCU Saturday offered an opportunity to learn how to win without one of their central locker room figures.

It took Temple a moment to hit its stride, as the Owls stumbled through 10 first-quarter turnovers, but outscoring the Rams by 13 points in the second frame was all they needed to soar to their fifth win of the season.

Temple overwhelmed VCU 88-63 at The Liacouras Center Saturday afternoon in a contest the Owls dominated on both ends of the court. They shot 52.7% from the field while forcing 26 Rams turnovers, which they converted into 34 points.

“It was a nice game for us, offensively and defensively,” Richardson said. “We talked about starting early, and I think we started early and it started with our defense, and it turned to the offense. 
So I’m quite pleased with the way we played and how everybody did what they were supposed to do.”

Temple’s gameplan was simple: get stops and run by being what Richardson described as “spicy” on defense.

The Owls (5-5) entered Saturday’s nonconference matchup ranked 307th in defensive rating amongst Division I programs, but they didn’t look the part against VCU (3-7). 

Temple dominated in nearly every defensive aspect, with pestering single coverage, effective help rotations and passing lane activity. Whether it was a missed Rams field-goal attempt or a giveaway, the Owls constantly ran the fastbreak to much success, recording 21 transition points. 

But no one benefitted from Temple’s run-and-gun offense more than guard Kaylah Turner, who scored a career-high 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 accuracy from three-point range. She thrived in early offense, gunning triples off the dribble as well as off the catch. 

Turner also provided much-needed on-ball creation as the Owls’ marquee ball-handler, delivering six assists.

“I did have to step up more at the one spot, and I feel like I handled that really, really good today,” Turner said. “The previous games, I felt like I had to work on the playmaking part as well. I could score, but being able to assist and lead my team, I have to work on it and I think I did great with that today.”

Forward Jaleesa Molina got into the action as well, but not as a scorer. She totaled 11 points, six assists, two steals and two blocks. The forward anchored a Temple defense that forced VCU to shoot 39.3% from the field and dished out timely passing to keep the offense in stride.

Molina supplied stability in the post, but the Owls’ feisty perimeter defense was just as critical. Temple totaled 17 steals, seven of which guard Savannah Curry accounted for. The sophomore posted a career-high 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field to go along with it. 

Her decisive line-drives added more variety to an Owls offense that aimed to fill a Taylor-sized void.

“Again, just starting off defensively and then transitioning that into offense, that really helped me,” Curry said. “With my teammates adding a lot of pressure, and then us just really focusing on the transition buckets, that helped a lot.”

The Owls’ transition play was crucial in overcoming Taylor’s absence, but they registered 27 turnovers, a number that could have cost them against a better team. She missed her second straight game due to a left ankle sprain, but Richardson said that she is rehabbing and is hopeful she’ll return for Temple’s next game against Coppin State on Dec. 19. 

Although Temple proved its resilience, it needs Taylor’s ball-handling to prevent violations and turnovers, which were evident early on.

First-quarter struggles plagued Temple through nine games and it initially seemed those troubles were gone. The Owls cracked open a 14-3 lead midway into the first quarter, creating transition opportunities with a binding defensive effort. Turner was crucial in the effort, forcing deflections and yielding spot-up three-pointers as Temple executed in early offense.

VCU recorded seven first-quarter turnovers with its offense floundering. But instead of pulling away, the Owls let their bad habits catch up with them.

Temple struggled to create halfcourt offense, coughing up 10 turnovers, many of which were unforced. The Owls fell victim to traveling violations and untimely passes, with Taylor’s absence being a glaring issue. They didn’t make a field-goal attempt in the last five minutes, allowing the Rams to produce an 11-1 run to trim Temple’s lead to 17-14 through one period. 

Temple rediscovered its form in the second frame, burying three consecutive threes as a product of its ball movement with Turner as the primary ball-handler. The Owls gained a 33-22 edge less than four minutes into the period, which set the tone for the rest of the first half.

“I knew that we could not let [VCU] back in,” Richardson said. “Obviously, in the first quarter, they just fought back and they’re a resilient team and I didn’t want them to get hope. So we had to step up our defense even more.”

Temple recorded just three turnovers in the quarter while continuing to force VCU’s offense into contested shots or giveaways. The Owls accumulated 14 points off turnovers and 13 in transition through 20 minutes, which was important in its offense rebooting. Molina’s four first-half assists came by virtue of Temple’s uptempo style and her ability to find cracks within the Rams’ defense.

Although both teams’ scoring died down in the closing minutes, the Owls entered the locker room with a 42-26 lead and were well on their way to a win. 

Turner prevented any chance of a Rams comeback, scoring 12 points in the third quarter. She scorched VCU’s perimeter defense with two triples and four free throws that were a product of the Owls’ ball movement and her aggression off the bounce. Between Turner’s brilliance and eight third-period turnovers from the Rams, Temple led 72-43 entering the last 10 minutes.

From there, Richardson gradually cleared her bench as the Owls spent the last quarter in cruise control to a 25-point victory.