Temple’s Julisa Mitchell scored 24 points to help the Lady Leopards roll to an 82-64 win over Weatherford at TC Gym on Wednesday night in the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference opener for both schools.
“She had an incredible game tonight,” Temple coach Kim Sebek said of Mitchell. “She played like she was on a mission. She came off the bench and just exploded offensively and got some key rebounds down the stretch defensively.”
The opening half was highlighted by turnovers and steals, and neither team could establish a big lead until Mitchell began to take over with about 2:30 left in the half.
Free throws by Mitchell put Temple up 27-26, and then her rebound on a missed shot by the Lady Coyotes helped set up a transition 3-pointer by Courtney Moore for a 30-26 lead with 2:21 left.
Mitchell added three more points before the half to help the Lady Leopards take a 36-30 halftime lead.
And then she took over the game in the first three minutes of the second half, scoring all of Temple’s points in the Lady Leopards’ 10-4 opening run.
“Coach just said to pick it up and play defense,” Mitchell said of the difference between halves. “We were letting them go around us and Coach pretty much told us we needed to step up. We had to get it together.”
Sebek said that in the first half Weatherford was getting too many baskets underneath. So Temple switched to a zone to combat the inside game and let the Lady Coyotes try to work the perimeter.
Then on offense, the Lady Leopards’ patience paid off.
“The patience we had in our half-court offense paid off,” Sebek said. “If you continue to reverse the ball, the defense has to shift, and Julisa was able to get open more in the shift.”
And then Weatherford slowly self-destructed. After the Lady Coyotes went on a short run to get back within seven, they had trouble controlling their emotions.
The referees had warned both benches that they would not tolerate any comments on whistles or foul calls, so both coaches told their players to be careful.
But Weatherford got hit with four technical and one intentional foul, while Temple only had one - on Mitchell, who yelled after being hit with a personal foul.
“It got frustrating out there,” Mitchell admitted. “I got a tech and everything, but I think it got more frustrating for (Weatherford) at the end.”
And Temple took advantage by converting all but one of its free throws on the technicals to help expand the lead and put the game out of reach.
“(The referees) point-blank told us to keep ’em quiet,” Sebek said. “And they held up to that. They called the techs. I don’t know what happened or what was said, but we were able to capitalize. It was a very physical game and our emotions got the best of us once, but their emotions got the best of them and when you can those free throws it gives you some momentum.”
Mareta Bailey finished with 15 points and Brittany Roberson and Shaquitta Martin had 10 each.
Monique Burnham had 12 points to lead Weatherford. Temple High School product Monica McGill had six.
“It was a good win for us,” Sebek concluded. “It started us off right in conference. But Weatherford is well-coached and they will bounce back from this. It will be closer up there.”
The Lady Leopards will be at Hill for a 2 p.m. game Saturday.
mhood@temple-telegram.com
