If Temple’s season opener served as an indicator, any doubt can be put to rest.
Behind a relentless defense and a balanced offense, the Tem-Cats crushed Schertz Clemens 72-18 Tuesday night at Wildcat Gym.
“I think we set the tone defensively very early and our defense became our offense,” Temple coach Don Layton said. “I think that our older girls played well and what happened is that our younger girls came in and really played well.
“I’m extremely proud of the effort they put forward. They spilled a lot of sweat defensively. I think you saw an experienced team frustrate a younger team tonight.”
The Tem-Cats forced 31 turnovers and all 10 players registered at least one field goal.
Led by senior stars Murdoch, Smith and McGill, Temple jumped on the Lady Buffaloes early.
A free throw and a jumper by Murdoch, a basket by McGill and two buckets from Smith gave the Tem-Cats a 9-0 lead.
Consecutive field goals by McGill in the paint and a layup by junior guard Ferniqua Johnson gave Temple a 24-6 advantage. Another basket by McGill, two free throws and a basket by sophomore guard Alisha Mosley and a layup off a steal by Jourdan Truesdale gave the Tem-Cats a comfortable 32-10 halftime lead.
Temple forced 10 turnovers in the second quarter and held Schertz Clemens to 3-for-18 shooting in the first half.
“Coach has been preaching a long time about playing defense,” Johnson said. “It’s the first time we played hard, hard defense. Everybody stepped up and played as a team and worked as a team to make the defense work.”
Johnson, who played sparingly after moving up to varsity toward the end of last season, scored six points and was one of several players who looked in control running the offense.
“For a junior with as limited an amount of varsity time as she has, I thought she played an excellent game,” Layton said.
Temple was led by the core group of McGill and Smith, who scored 12 points each. Murdoch added an all-around effort - nine points, eight rebounds and six assists - and Shantae Hewins had six points in her first varsity start.
Layton was most impressed with the production from his bench players. Mosley scored six points, Truesdale added 11, including two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and Terris Goodwin had six rebounds.
“She (Goodwin) came in and just gave us what we needed,” Layton said. “I think the bench tonight did that. They came in and just did their job.”
While the squad revolves around the core group, the other Tem-Cats showed they have a great understanding of their respective roles.
“Our role is to play great team ball and get the ball to them,” Truesdale said. “They are our weapons. Murdoch can put it up on the inside and we have to get it to Trenette if she’s wide open on the outside with a shot. She’s destined to hit it.”
But on Tuesday, it was the rest of the Temple players who stole the show and got the Tem-Cats off to a 1-0 start.
“That was great,” Truesdale said about the season-opening outcome. “That was a good win. We really did have a good team effort."
Added Layton: “I couldn’t have scripted a better way to start. They just came out and played great defense, everybody scored, shot the ball well, played help defense well, rebounded the ball well, we were blocking shots. It’s just a great team win."
Temple will host San Antonio MacArthur at 7 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the 30-team Dr Pepper Chisholm Trail Classic.
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
