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An equal opportunity offensive effort helps Temple take down Delaware State

The Owls' 109-43 win was the team's first scoring 100 points or more in nearly a decade.

Temple's Tiarra East seen here in action against Villanova, helped fuel a resounding 109-43 win for the Owls in their season opener.
Temple's Tiarra East seen here in action against Villanova, helped fuel a resounding 109-43 win for the Owls in their season opener.Read moreElizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
    by Max Dinenberg
    Published 

Temple made a statement Monday in a dominant 109-43 win over Delaware State in the women’s basketball season opener at the Liacouras Center.

It marked the first time Temple scored 100 points or more in a game since 2015.

The Owls put on a clinic with effective ball movement and getting off good shots. Every player on head coach Diane Richardson’s revamped lineup scored, all part of what appears to be an equal opportunity offense.

“Everybody can score and that’s the blessing for our team,” said Temple graduate guard Aleah Nelson. “We have numbers and we have those numbers that can also score. So it is really good to not like to lay back but be on a team where you don’t know who is going to be hot on a given night. And I think that’s what makes us really hard to guard.”

Statistical leaders

While Nelson, Tiarra East, and Tarriyonna Gary carried the Owls in the scoring department a year ago, that was not entirely the case in the season opener. East (12 points) and Gary were both in double digits as Gary dropped 11 points off the bench.

Nelson played unselfish basketball. She finished with 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting and added four assists.

Freshman Jaleesa Molina had nine points and three rebounds while Vanderbilt transfer Demi Washington added 11 points and six rebounds. Northeastern transfer Kendall Currence also scored 10 points off the bench.

Dream start

Temple went on a 9-0 run in the first two minutes of the game with four starters contributing to the scoring..

Defensively, Temple forced a lot of highly contested shots that led to multiple Delaware State air balls. Additionally, Temple played with a lot of pace off of Hornet misses and it led to easy buckets on offense.

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”That’s our goal every day,” Richardson said. “It’s our goal every game to force the opposing coach to call a timeout and we do that with tough defense and I think they did that today.”

Up next

The Owls return to the Liacouras Center on Thursday to face Georgetown (7 p.m., ESPN+).