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Turnovers doom Temple as Rice prevails in semifinal round of AAC women’s basketball tournament

The Owls trailed by two with four seconds left, but their 22nd turnover decided the game in a three-point loss to Rice.

Demi Washington, pictured here against Tulsa in February, led the Owls with 19 points in a 60-57 loss to Rice in an AAC tournament semifinal.
Demi Washington, pictured here against Tulsa in February, led the Owls with 19 points in a 60-57 loss to Rice in an AAC tournament semifinal.Read moreCharles Fox / Staff Photographer

FORT WORTH, Texas — There was a glimmer of hope for Temple.

Trailing by two, the Owls had the ball with 4.1 seconds to go. But Temple’s 22nd and final turnover of the night, a picked-off inbounds pass by Rice leading scorer Malia Fisher, sealed its fate. No. 10 seed Rice beat Temple, the three-seed, 60-57, in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals on Tuesday.

Rice is on its maiden voyage in the American Athletic Conference after 18 seasons in Conference USA.

» READ MORE: Temple stays ‘together, no matter what,’ and junior captain Tiarra East is a big reason why

And that voyage will continue for Rice with defending champ East Carolina up next and an NCAA Tournament berth on the line.

Temple’s turnaround — the Philly Owls recorded a program best-tying nine more wins this season than they had in 2022-23 — has been well-documented here. And now they’ll wait to see if a Women’s National Invitation Tournament or the newly formed Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament berth is in the cards.

The Houston-based Owls, holding a modest halftime lead, shut down Temple offensively coming out of the break. They used an 11-0 run — marked by Temple’s sixth and seventh offensive fouls of the night — to claim a 44-31 lead with 4 minutes, 55 seconds left in the quarter.

But Temple wasn’t going anywhere and held its aviary counterparts to four points while spinning up a 10-2 run to climb back within single digits. That climb continued as Temple cut its deficit to one with 6:14 left in the fourth quarter on a pair of free throws by Demi Washington. Washington, one of three Owls with no remaining eligibility, led all scorers with 19 points and six rebounds. Tiarra East added 10 points and eight boards. Tarriyonna Gary briefly gave Temple a one-point lead, 53-52, with 3:29 left, but Fisher promptly responded.

The damage was done in the third quarter, but Rice laid the groundwork throughout the second quarter.

» READ MORE: Temple guard Aleah Nelson’s guiding force is her mom: ‘She’s my rock’

Temple turnovers (nine, to be exact) marked the first half, but foul trouble began to creep in during the latter minutes of the second quarter. Tucker picked up her third foul, with 1:31 left, and three of her teammates had two fouls by the first-half buzzer. Rice drew five charges in the first half, eight overall.

Temple also struggled to contain Fisher, who had 12 points at halftime and finished with a team-best 17 points, while Destiny Jackson added 16. After Temple tied it, Fisher scored on three straight possessions to stretch Rice’s lead back out. Fisher also scored the final four points of a 9-0 run that gave Rice the lead it held for much of the game.