Philadelphia (December 4) - The Temple women's basketball team lost to Villanova, 72-68, in a Big Five thriller, today, at The Forum at The Apollo of Temple.
The Owls were led by Lisa Jakubowicz (Levittown, Pa./Conwell-Egan) who scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds. The 6-1 center also had a career-high seven assists.
Temple, who trailed by 10 points at the half, went on a 17-8 run at the start of the second half to cut the Wildcat lead to 43-42. Junior Ieesha Turnage (Linden, N.J./Elizabeth) nailed two free throws to tie the contest, 47-47, with 9:21 remaining in the game. Temple took the lead with 5:41 remaining when junior Natalia Isaac (Falls Church, Va./Stuart) hit a three-pointer to put the Owls up 57-56. However, Temple didn't have an answer for Villanova forward Jenea Skeeters who scored 29 points on 11-for-13 shooting from the floor.
Both teams shot well from the field as Villanova finished shooting 52 percent while Temple shot 51.9 percent.
The loss drops the Owls to 1-3 on the season. Villanova improves to 4-2. Up next for Temple is a trip to Hawk Hill to take on St. Joseph's on Dec. 6.
