After winning their first three games and advancing to the semifinals, the Tem-Cats dropped two games Saturday, including a 54-39 loss to Arlington Bowie at Mayborn Campus Center, to finish fourth in the annual tournament.
“I’m very disappointed in how we performed,” Layton, whose team was edged 55-52 by Copperas Cove in a semifinal, said after the loss to Bowie. “We had an uninspired performance. I don’t know if we were tired or it was the five games in three days. Not to take anything away from Bowie, but we definitely did not perform to the level we expect.”
With Temple trailing 25-14 at halftime, senior Trenette Smith helped charge the offense.
Smith scored eight points and Kaetlyn Murdoch and Shantae Hewins each added a field goal in the Tem-Cats’ 12-3 run to trim the lead to two midway through the third quarter. But that was as close as Temple (4-2) would get.
Led by Amenemope McKinney, Bowie scored 12 of the next 16 points to take a 40-30 lead and eventually cruised to the victory.
The 5-7 McKinney scored 12 of her team-high 16 points after Temple had inched within 28-26. Bowie led the entire game en route to a third-place finish.
Smith led the Tem-Cats with 16 points, and Murdoch had eight points and 12 rebounds. Temple was outrebounded 39-22.
“When we play teams like that, we’re going to have to learn to raise our level of intensity to match other teams,” Layton said.
Earlier in the day at its Wildcat Gym, Temple fell behind early against Cove and dropped its first game of the season.
Trailing by three with 5.7 seconds remaining, the Tem-Cats forced a turnover to regain possession and possibly send the game into overtime. But Shaquana Wall’s 3-point attempt fell short, sending Temple to the third-place game.
“We asked them in the timeout just to give us a chance and they did it,” Layton said. “I thought they showed me some heart.”
The Tem-Cats fell behind 22-11 in the second quarter, their largest deficit this season, after four straight baskets by Lady Dawg reserve Tina Miller and a putback by Nani Fano.
Down 42-34 at half, Temple scored three straight field goals by Smith, Murdoch and Wall to eventually close the gap to 45-43.
Cove responded with a Cori Cooper free throw and a putback and consecutive baskets by Fano and Nikki Faison for a 52-45 lead with a little more than two minutes remaining.
The Tem-Cats had one final gasp.
Murdoch and McGill each had a field goal, and a basket and two free throws by Smith drew the Tem-Cats to within 54-52, but Temple was unable to score on its final two possessions.
Murdoch led all scorers with 17 points and Terris Goodwin came off the bench to add 10 points and nine rebounds. Murdoch and Smith earned all-tournament honors.
Miller led Cove with 14 points and Cooper added 11.
“I told them I was extremely proud of them,” said Layton, whose team next will host Austin McCallum at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. “They dug themselves out of a hole twice. They simply gave themselves a chance to tie that ballgame when it looked like there was no way to do that.
“I know we lost the game but they showed me something that I hadn’t been able to see so far this season.”
Waco Midway won the tournament championship by beating Cove 58-45 at Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton.
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
