Owls outsoar the Rams, 59-55

Thailon Wilson, Sports Editor

Andrew Thompson, Contributing Writer

VCU women’s basketball lost to the Temple University Owls on Nov. 15 at the Siegel Center, 59-55.

This matchup between the black and gold and the Owls was VCU’s second annual “SupportHER” game, breaking the record for attendance for women’s basketball with 6,093, according to VCU Athletics.

The SupportHER game is an initiative to get the Richmond community more involved with women’s athletics at VCU, through both attendance and opportunities to support, according to Evan Nicely, the VCU assistant athletic director of creative services. 

The game represented VCU’s mission to spotlight women’s athletics, according to VCU head coach Beth O’Boyle. 

“I think our players are great ambassadors of VCU,” O’Boyle said. “I think they do an incredible job representing VCU and our program.”

The game started off with both teams going back and forth, trading buckets for the first four minutes of the first quarter. 

VCU third-year guard Timaya Lewis-Eutsey scored a contested layup to give the Rams a 6-5 at the six-minute mark. This ignited a 6-0 run that lasted for five minutes, according to StatBroadcast. 

The Owls ended the Rams’ run with a three-pointer. Both teams started trading buckets again and the quarter ended with both teams tied 10-10. 

Temple scored the first basket of the second quarter with a layup by second-year guard Kaylah Turner. The Rams and the Owls continued trading baskets back-and-forth but the black and gold managed to hold a 15-14 lead at the seven-minute mark. 

Lewis-Eutsey and VCU redshirt fourth-year guard Grace Hutson scored back-to-back threes, which increased the Rams lead to 21-16 at the four-minute mark. 

The Owls tried to come back by clawing away at the lead by scoring layups and jumpers, but the Rams kept scoring as well and ended the half up 28-22.

The Owls shot 26.3% from the field and 11.1% from the arc against VCU’s defense in the first half, according to StatBroadcast.

Temple started off the scoring in the third quarter with a turnaround jumper from fourth-year guard Tiarra East before both teams went on a flurry of exchanging baskets.

The teams continued to trade possessions for a while before Temple began a 7-0 run in the final two minutes of the half to tie the game 43-43 going into the fourth, according to StatBroadcast. 

The Rams and Owls began the fourth on a four-minute scoring drought before VCU second-year forward Lucía Sotelo Miguez hit a layup, according to StatBroadcast. 

Both teams went on to have successful offensive possessions, keeping the game close with VCU barely being able to maintain their lead.

Temple took the lead off an and-one free throw six minutes into the quarter before a fastbreak layup from Lewis-Eutsey gave the Rams their lead back, according to StatBroadcast. 

The Owls, however, refused to go away quietly as East continued her second-half offensive explosion, scoring 20 of her 28 in the second half and giving Temple the lead with two minutes left.

VCU third-year guard Mary-Anna Asare had a chance to tie off the game on an and-one layup with 20 seconds left, but missed the ensuing free throw, giving Temple the win.

Asare finished the game with 19 points shooting 57% from the field while also contributing two steals, playing a pivotal role regardless of the loss. 

“Sometimes we don’t hit all our goals, but I think my team needed energy, and I was trying to give that to them from the defensive end and also the offensive end,” Asare said.   

O’Boyle recognized that even with the unfortunate loss, there’s still something to take away from the game and bring into the remainder of the season, she said. 

“It’s about what’s the most important lesson that we can take from this so that it pushes us forward so that we keep getting better,”  O’Boyle said. “We’re doing some really good things, and then there’s things that we’ve got to get more consistently better at so that we are getting more of the results that we want.” 

VCU will play its next game against Old Dominion University in Norfolk on Thursday, Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m.