Due to untimely turnovers and poor free-throw shooting, Temple has suffered four heartbreaking defeats by a combined 11 points in the past month.
The Tem-Cats made sure early Tuesday night another game wouldn’t slip away as they cruised to a 54-35 victory over Killeen Ellison at Wildcat Gym.
“We’ve been working on stuff that we’ve been missing in games,” said senior Trenette Smith, who had a game-high 17 points. “We’ve been working on our defense, shooting and free throws. We’re doing a lot of free throws.”
Added Layton: “As a group they came out and started strong. They won the third quarter. That’s a big thing. Instead of coming out and giving the lead up, they came out and maintained it.
“I think that is huge for us. As a team we finally took a step toward that tonight.”
Temple improved to 14-10 overall and 2-3 in District 13-5A. Ellison fell to 9-15, 0-5.
Kaetlyn Murdoch scored seven of her 16 points in the opening quarter as the Tem-Cats jumped out to a 16-3 lead. Temple scored the first 14 points before the Lady Eagles’ Alisha Jones ended the drought with 2:28 left in the first quarter.
Ellison shot 1-for-8 from the field and 1-for-8 from the free-throw line in the first 8 minutes.
Smith’s 3-pointer gave the Tem-Cats their largest lead of the game at 22-5 early in the second quarter.
After the Lady Eagles closed to within 27-18 at halftime, Smith scored six points as Temple pushed the lead to double digits for the remainder of the game.
“It’s like everything is clicking now,” said Smith, who is averaging more than 16 points during the past six games, including a season-high 29 against Leander.
“We’re getting the passing down and we’re now just getting used to everybody and playing well together.”
Along with her 16 points, Murdoch finished with 11 rebounds and four assists, mostly to Smith cutting to the basket.
“One of the biggest things she (Murdoch) did was with her passing,” Layton said. “She seemed to get other people involved in the offense.
“I think we played very well tonight. It’s not a secret. When we score more than 50 points, we’re hard to beat. Tonight, we clicked offensively.”
Temple improved to 8-3 when scoring more than 50 points this season.
Shaquanna Wall and Ferniqua Johnson directed the efficient offense as the Tem-Cats finished with only nine turnovers.
Playing in place of starter Monica McGill, who missed the game for unspecified reasons, sophomore Terris Goodwin chipped in seven points.
Temple shot 21-for-30 from the free-throw line, including 15-for-21 in the second half to close out the win.
“All in all, for where we are at right now, I couldn’t ask for a better game than what they just gave us,” Layton said.
Temple will play at Bryan (16-10, 3-2), which beat No. 19 College Station A&M Consolidated 54-52 Tuesday, at 7 p.m. Friday.
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
