In what was a painful game to watch for first-year coach Tamarah Sanders, her listless Tem-Cats (5-2) struggled from the field and the free-throw line and didn’t manage to pull away from the Lady Crusaders until late in the third quarter.
“I feel like we’re going a little bit backward,” Sanders said. “We had the first two great games (wins over Brenham and El Paso Americas), then the last three (losses to Austin LBJ and New Braunfels and the win against St. Michael’s) were horrible.
“Even though it was a win, our defense has to get better. We stress defense, but we’re not showing it. That team happened to not be as talented as us. If this was district, we would have lost that game.”
When asked if Sanders took any positives from the victory, she replied: “No, not at all. To be honest, I didn’t like anything about the game other than the win.
“I think we might have gone two minutes where we played hard. Those two minutes were the highlight of my day.”
After St. Michael’s went on a 6-0 run to pull to within 25-21 in the third quarter, Temple answered with a 10-0 spurt to give the Tem-Cats a 35-21 lead early in the fourth.
Junior Amanda Sullivan had a basket, Shantae Hewins (game-high 14 points) knocked down two free throws and Sullivan had a steal and layup for a 31-21 lead. Then Hewins hit a turnaround jumper in the lane and Ferniqua Johnson scored to cap the run. The Lady Crusaders never got within 10 the rest of the way.
Temple shot 16-for-61 (26.2 percent) from the field and 15-for-26 (57.7 percent) from the free-throw line. The defense forced 26 turnovers - six straight to start the second half - and held St. Michael’s to 12-for-39 (30.8 percent) shooting from the field but never showed the tenacious spirit Sanders and the Tem-Cats pride themselves on.
Part of that lack of energy, Sanders said, might be directly related to what happened early in Friday’s loss to LBJ on the second day of the Dr Pepper Chisholm Trail Classic. Junior forward Terris Goodwin, who started the second half of the season last year, left the game with a possible anterior cruciate ligament injury. She will have an MRI on Friday.
Goodwin had already missed practice time and Temple’s season opener against Brenham after suffering a concussion in a scrimmage with Pflugerville. Now, her presence in the paint and leadership might be gone, as well.
“When Terris was out with her concussion and didn’t get to practice, I felt like I was at a funeral,” Sanders said. “When she was there, it made a difference. She’s a team motivator, so she makes a difference - not just scoring-wise or rebounding-wise but energy-wise. It’s that bunny that you need to keep going, going and going and she’s that bunny we don’t have right now.”
Jordan Pickett, a 6-2 senior, has been hampered with an ankle injury but should begin practicing next week and could give the Tem-Cats much-needed height.
When asked what today’s practice will be like, Sanders said: “It’s going to be tough.”
Temple plays at 5 p.m. Friday at Robinson.
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
