Philadelphia, Pa. --
Laycee Drake (Hancock, N.Y.) scored a career-high 12 points, but host Temple outscored the UMBC Women's Basketball team 22-7 in the fourth quarter to escape with a 68-53 win on Saturday afternoon.
Drake also dished out a career-best five assists and added five rebounds, two steals and a block.
Ashia McCalla (Greenbelt, Md.) was the only other Retriever to reach double-figures, tallying 10 points on the day.
How It Happened
- The game started off back-and-forth, but a late fast break layup by Kiara Bell (Santa Rosa, Calif) gave UMBC (2-5) an 18-17 lead after one quarter.
- The Retrievers scored the first four points of the second quarter, but Temple (3-5) responded with nine straight to take a 26-22 lead.
- This time UMBC answered with a big run, scoring the next seven points to go up 29-26.
- The teams would trade baskets from there, as the Owls hit a free throw with 0.8 seconds left to take a 32-31 lead into the half
- The lead would again change hands multiple times throughout the third, but a pair of Scoop Smith (Pemberton Towsnhip, N.J.) free throws with 34 seconds left in the quarter gave UMBC its final lead of the game at 44-43.
- Keelah Dixon (Boston, Mass.) beat the buzzer with a driving layup to tie the game at 46 heading into the final frame
- The Owls tallied the first six points of the fourth, but a contested three from Drake cut the lead to 52-49 with just over six minutes to go.
- Temple responded with five points in the next 43 seconds to push the lead to a game-high eight points, 57-49
- Dixon made another layup to slice the deficit to 57-51 with 4:22 left, but that would be the last basket the Retrievers would make as the Owls ended the game on an 11-1 run
UMBC heads to Texas to face Houston on Wednesday night.
