That’s what the Temple Tem-Cats relied on Thursday night, holding El Paso Americas to four points in the final 6½ minutes to battle from behind and beat the Trailblazers 42-39 at Wildcat Gym in a first-round game of the Dr Pepper Chisholm Trail Classic.
“They showed a lot of heart,” Temple first-year coach Tamarah Sanders said of her team’s home opener. “Like I explained to them ‘Defense is heart.’ They showed a lot of heart and determination and that’s what we preached today - that’s exactly what they did today.
“Defense is going to win us games and that was a good example tonight.”
Temple (2-0) advanced to meet Austin Crockett - which beat Austin McCallum 51-41 - at 11:30 a.m. today at Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Mayborn Campus Center in Belton.
With Americas leading 36-33 in the fourth quarter, the Tem-Cats were dealt a blow when 5-10 forward Terris Goodwin - who had six points in her first game after sitting out Tuesday’s win against Brenham - fouled out with 3:39 remaining.
Lady Trailblazer Lisette Zapata hit a free throw for a 37-33 lead, but Temple senior Shantae Hewins answered with a putback to pull the Tem-Cats within 37-35 with 3:15 to go.
Becca Gutierrez’s three-point attempt missed, and Hewins grabbed the long rebound and took it down the floor for a layup to tie the game at 37 with 2:07 left.
Americas’ Teisha King (game-high 17 points), who continuously beat defenders off the dribble and penetrated the lane, found Shelby Saucedo for an easy layin and a 39-37 lead.
But Temple’s defense and late-game execution took control the rest of the way.
Senior guard Ferniqua Johnson calmly hit two free throws to tie the game with 1:25 to go. Then, King’s 3-pointer missed, Saucedo’s putback attempt was off and Maya Williams pulled down the rebound for the Tem-Cats.
Once again, Hewins came through by hitting a free throw for a 40-39 lead with 54.1 left. The 5-8 senior, who scored nine of her team-high 13 points in the fourth quarter, missed the second attempt and the Lady Trailblazers set up for a potential game-winning shot.
King kept the ball the entire possession, letting the clock tick away as she looked to take 5-5 junior Alisha Mosley off the dribble.
“I wanted to keep my feet moving, watch the ball and not overplay her so much,” Mosley said. “She (Sanders) told me to force her left and that’s what I tried to do.”
When King finally attacked, Mosley forced her left and several Tem-Cats were waiting in the lane to corral her and force a turnover. Mosley came up with the ball and tried to find a teammate down court, but her pass was intercepted by Gutierrez, who gave the ball right back when her pass was stolen by Hewins with 2.3 seconds left.
“Shantae and Ferniqua had an awesome night tonight,” Sanders said. “Shantae, her second-half play, I couldn’t ask for any more from her leadership.”
Hewins hit both free throws and Americas’ last-second effort was stolen by Temple’s Jourdan Truesdale to seal the win.
The Tem-Cats shot just 13-for-58 (22 percent) from the field but committed just 12 turnovers after having 34 in their season opener.
“I’m very excited. We all kept our heads up in the game,” Mosley said. “We all played through, concentrated on not fouling and doing what the coach was saying to us and that’s what got us through to playing tomorrow against Crockett."
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
