They were, and they trailed by two at halftime. But fortunately for the Lady Leopards, they found their second wind and rolled to a 72-51 win over Jacksonville College at TC Gym.
“I’m definitely pleased to be 4-2,” Sebek said. “To go out to West Texas and come back 2-1 was a good trip for us. We put together a tough schedule by design and had lost a tough game to Angelina . . . I couldn’t ask for anything more than to be 4-2.”
The Lady Leopards came out noticeably flat, scoring only six points in the first five minutes of play and finding themselves down 21-13 with 6:30 left in the half.
Temple cut the lead to 25-23 before halftime and carried that momentum into the second half, with an early 19-2 run - highlighted by three 3-pointers from Alex Pinney - pushing the Lady Leopards to a 46-30 advantage with 13:10 left.
“We did a much better job second half,” Sebek said. “Alex came in and gave us a big lift knocking down some 3s. She’s a shooter. And that was big for us to figure out that we could get the basketball to go into the bucket.”
The Lady Jaguars had their own 3-point weapon in Chelsea Foy, who made three of her own to pull the Lady Jaguars to within 52-44 with just under five minutes to play.
But two minutes later, as Temple got several rebounds and fast-break opportunities, Foy committed her fifth foul of the game, leaving the Lady Jaguars no true outside threat and facing what had become a 16-point deficit.
From there, all TC had to do was secure the ball and make its free throws to roll on to victory.
“Shots were falling short, and we became a little impatient in the first half,” Sebek said. “We were getting beat defensively. So we switched to a zone to give them fits and it worked pretty well for us.
“When things weren’t going well we started pressing and weren’t letting the game come to us. In the second half they were more relaxed and started having some fun.”
In addition to Pinney’s 14 points, Mareta Bailey and Temple High School product Shondria Combs both had exceptional second halves.
Bailey scored 14 of her 17 points in the half and grabbed 12 rebounds for the game. Combs had 10 points, all in the second half.
“Mareta had the best game of the year,” Sebek said. “She did a great job cleaning up missed shots and getting the putback. She gave us a real spurt there.”
And if it weren’t for Brittany Bryant’s rebounding and Marisa Rauss’ scoring in the first half, the Lady Leopards might have been too far out of the game by halftime to even make a charge.
“Brittany finds a way to get to the ball,” Sebek said of sophomore guard Bryant, who had six first-half rebounds. “She’s hard to block out and just finds a way to get in position.”
Rauss had 10 of her 11 points in the first half, outmaneuvering Jacksonville’s much taller post, Lorraine Odihambo.
“She was one of the girls who kept moving her feet,” Sebek said of Rauss. “She created shots in the lane and worked through the gaps in their zone. She kept us in this game in the first half.”
The Lady Leopards will be at Angelina on Thursday and then host Blinn at 2 p.m. Saturday.
mhood@temple-telegram.com
