The Princeton women’s basketball team won a third consecutive road game against a brand-name opponent with a 62-57 win over the Temple Owls at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.
Coming off a career-high 20 points in her last outing in Princeton’s triumph over Rutgers on Sunday afternoon, Ashley Chea once again led the Tigers with 17 points to go along with three assists and five rebounds.
But the hero of the night for Princeton might have been Tabitha Amanze, who came off the bench to tally 12 points and 11 rebounds, 10 off the defensive glass, for her first career double-double.
The 6-foot-4 junior from Nigeria wreaked havoc on Temple’s inside game, seemingly shutting down the Owls every time they dared to enter the paint. After the game, Princeton head coach Carla Berube praised her center:
“She was awesome and ready to go and was a huge presence for us. [She] made some big baskets in there and most importantly, I think she was a presence for us defensively, blocking some shots [and] getting some big rebounds. That’s her play and we were ready to see that this season. It was fun watching her.”
For the second game in a row, Princeton got off to a fast start, streaking to a 9-3 lead by the time of the first media timeout. Solid defense by the Tigers forced Temple to rely on outside shooting and a string of one-and-done possessions by the Owls.
Princeton led 16-7 at the end of the first quarter. The seven points surrendered in the opening stanza were the fewest allowed by the Tigers in any quarter so far the season.
The Tigers continued to execute their game plan effectively in the second quarter. Skye Belker fed a perfect entry pass to Parker Hill, who flipped the ball off the glass for a money basket. The Tigers had their first double-digit lead of the game at 18-7.
A string of Princeton turnovers allowed Temple to get back in the game, shrinking Princeton’s lead to 20-17, with 5:44 to play in the first half. But the Tigers stiffened, forcing six missed shots in a row by the home team. A 12-0 run to close out the half gave Princeton a 32-17 lead at the intermission.
The Tigers were led in the first half by Amanze’s eight points on 3-for-5 shooting. The Tigers had built their lead by dominating in the paint, where they outscored the Owls, 16-6.
In the third quarter, both teams traded blows and Temple slowly heated up. Chea started the bidding with a corner 3, her third on as many tries, to stretch the Princeton lead to 18. Back-to-back layups sparked hope for the Owls, but a gorgeous backdoor pass by Chea to Belker quickly doused the fire. The third stanza ended where it started, with Princeton ahead by 15, 51-36.
In the fourth quarter, the Tigers faded and Temple got hot. Careless ball-handling by Chea led to a steal and layup by Kaylah Turner. The 5-foot-6 sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla came off the bench to lead Temple with 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including 3-for-4 from behind the arc.
A missed layup by Amanze led to a three ball by Tiarra East, and suddenly the Owls had whittled Princeton’s lead to ten, 51-41, with 9:10 left to play. East, who leads Temple in scoring this season with 16.8 points per game, had been held in check all night by the Tigers until the fourth quarter. The senior from Louisville, Ky. scored nine straight points to get Temple back into the game.
A jumper by Chea restored Princeton’s lead to double-digits, 59-49, with 2;46 to play and the Tigers seemed set to get out of Philly with another solid road win.
But that all changed when East hit a trey off a screen set by Anissa Rivera. Princeton’s Olivia Hutcherson tried to fight through the screen but ended up shoving Rivera to the ground just as East let loose her three ball. The referees whistled a foul and suddenly Temple had a chance for a rare five-point play. Rivera converted one of two free throws to cut Princeton’s lead to 59-54 with 1:48 to play.
Things got even hairier when Amanze missed a bunny and Turner hit a second-chance three to make it a two-point game, 59-57, with 1:09 to go in the contest.
Under intense pressure from the Owls, Fadima Tall tried to force an inbounds pass to Belker at center court, but Belker couldn’t come up with the ball and suddenly Temple had a chance to tie or take the lead with under a minute to play. Temple called timeout.
Out of the stoppage, the Owls worked the ball to Rivera, who missed a jumper in the paint. Amanze ripped down the rebound but then inexplicably threw the ball right back to Rivera.
Temple again called timeout with another chance to tie or take the lead, but Rivera missed an open three and this time Amanze pulled down the board and secured the ball. Clutch free throws in the final seconds locked up the win, and Princeton escaped with the five-point win, 62-57.
It was the second game in a row that Princeton held its opponent to under 60 points, an effort that pleased Berube.
“[Our defense limited them] for the most part, and then it broke down a little bit in that fourth quarter,” Berube said. “I loved the first half. I thought we really got after it, made them work really hard. Just limiting it to one shot and being there on their drives, and then they got a little hot in the second half, and making threes and we didn’t come down with some big rebounds. But we got stops when we needed to down the stretch and made some big free throws. So I’m proud of our efforts and pleased we really stepped up to get this win on the road “
With the win, the Tigers closed out the first month of the season with a 5-2 record, including three straight road wins without their star player, Madison St. Rose, who suffered a season-ending injury eight days ago against Quinnipiac.
Princeton’s grueling road trip continues after Thanksgiving with a two-game western swing for a Dec. 6 matchup at Portland and then an intriguing Dec. 8 matchup in Salt Lake City against powerhouse Utah.