Philadelphia - The Temple women's basketball team lost to St. Bonaventure, 64-55, Friday evening at the Liacouras Center in the regular season finale.
St. Bonaventure shot a solid 52.0 percent (13-25) from the floor in the first half to help propel them to an early advantage. Leading by eight points (30-22) with 2:59 remaining in the first half, the Bonnies went on a 8-1 scoring run, capped by a Melissa Fazio baseline jumper, to take a 38-23 halftime lead.
Temple countered with its own scoring run at the start of the second half as they outscored St. Bonaventure, 16-5, to open the second stanza and cut the lead to four points (43-39) with 14:14 remaining. A Nikki Jones' lay up, a Stacey Smalls' lay up and Nicole Chaszar free throw later, the Owls had managed to whittle the lead to one point (45-44) with 9:44 left. However, the Bonnies would respond by scoring seven unanswered points and going up 52-44. Chaszar would hit two more free throws to cut the lead to five points with 25.8 seconds remaining, but could get no closer as St. Bonaventure went on to win the contest.
The Owls were led by Chaszar and Lisa Jakubowicz who each scored 11 points for the Owls. Melissa Eagles added nine points and Smalls chipped in with eight.
The loss drops the Owls to 10-17 overall and 5-11 in the conference. Temple will next play on Mar. 3 in the Bell Atlantic Atlantic 10 Tournament at the Liacouras Center.
