It was their chance to show how much they’ve grown in the past eight days, winning four of five games. It offered them a chance to avenge a 51-36 loss to host Copperas Cove at the Bush’s Chicken Holiday Classic last Wednesday. Most important, it gave them an opportunity to make a statement that they will be a factor in the District 12-5A girls basketball race.
Instead, the Lady Bulldawgs gave the Tem-Cats another old-fashioned whipping 53-36 at Wildcat Gym in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated.
“We had no intensity,” said first-year Temple coach Tamarah Sanders, whose team was outrebounded 9-1 in the first six minutes.
The Tem-Cats (12-10 overall, 1-3 in 12-5A) are in a five-way tie for fourth place with Belton, Harker Heights, Killeen Ellison and Killeen Shoemaker.
Cove (16-5, 4-0) remained unbeaten in league play.
Temple’s Maya Williams hit a baseline jumper for a 9-all tie with less than four minutes remaining in the first quarter.
“Then all of a sudden, we stopped concentrating on the things we were doing for the first 4˝ minutes,” Sanders said.”
Cove’s Desiree Nelson and Leslie Martinez made 3-pointers to start a 29-7 run that put the game out of reach before halftime.
With the Lady Bulldawgs leading 16-11 to start the second, Nani Fano scored nine points in the quarter as Cove outscored Temple 22-5 for a 38-16 lead at the break. The Tem-Cats committed 10 turnovers in the quarter and were outrebounded 24-12 in the first half.
Cove’s overall energy led to nearly a dozen offensive rebounds in the first 16 minutes that sucked the energy out of the gym, leaving many Tem-Cat fans thinking the game couldn’t get over fast enough.
“We just went man-to-man, nothing special,” said Lady Bulldawgs coach Richard Herbst, whose team shot just 18-for-65 from the field. “I just thought we buckled down defensively. Then I thought they got a little tired and we pushed through that for some easy buckets.”
Cove got complacent in the third, missing its first 11 shots, and didn’t score until 1:05 left in the quarter. The Lady Bulldawgs eventually stretched the lead to 48-20 before Temple’s reserves made the score respectable.
Shantae Hewins led the Tem-Cats with 10 points, and Jourdan Truesdale added seven points and nine rebounds as Temple shot 11-for-45 from the field.
It was a disappointing start to a key three-game stretch - Cove, at Ellison at 7 p.m. Friday and at Bryan on Jan. 13 - for the Tem-Cats, who likely will be battling for 12-5A’s final playoff berth.
“It’s irritating,” Sanders said, “but I know these young ladies want to be here, so whatever they were going through tonight, they’ll get over and tomorrow we’ll be back to business in practice.”
Temple beat Ellison 47-45 in overtime at the Bush’s Chicken Holiday Classic last week, and another victory over the Lady Eagles should help the Tem-Cats get back on track.
“We need it,” Sanders said. “They’re going to be at home so they’re going to be fired up. We have to be ready to play from the word ‘go’ all the way to the end."
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
