Michigan
0-1
Temple
1-0
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 16 | 32 | 48 |
| Temple | 31 | 34 | 65 |
Michigan Drops Season Opener to 21st-Ranked Temple
11/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
EUGENE, Ore. -- The University of Michigan women's basketball team opened the 2005-06 season with a 65-48 loss to No. 21 Temple in the first game of the Women's Sports Foundation Challenge Friday evening (Nov. 11) at Oregon's McArthur Court. The Wolverines (0-1) battled back from 20-point deficit with 15 minutes to play and eventually trimmed the Owls' (1-0) lead to eight points with less than five minutes left before Temple ended the game with a 13-4 run.
Freshman Jessica Minnfield (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic HS) finished her first career game in the Maize and Blue with a game-high 15 points in addition to four rebounds and two steals. Freshman Stephany Skrba (Richmond Hill, Ontario/Lanstaff Secondary School) collected eight rebounds and four boards, while classmate Carly Benson (Carney, Mich./Carney-Nadeau Public School) contributed five points, five rebounds, two assists and one block. Sophomore Katie Dierdorf (St. Louis, Mo./Visitation Academy) saw her first action in 11 months after recovering from a hip injury, coming off the bench to score five points in just nine minutes.
Junior Kelly Helvey (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic HS) recorded Michigan's first points of the season on a jumper from the wing to give the Wolverines a 2-0 advantage at 18:29. A pair of Temple buckets gave the Owls a 4-2 lead heading into the first timeout at 15:55, but sophomore Jessica Starling (Tallahassee, Fla./Amos P. Godby HS) came off the bench and knocked down her first jumper of the season to tie the score.
The Owls went on a 10-0 scoring run over the next four minutes to grab a 14-4 lead. A Benson offensive rebound led to a basket inside by Skrba to break a 4:15 U-M scoring drought and trim the Temple lead to eight points. Six straight Owl points pushed the lead back to double digits, 20-6, before Minnfield drilled her first triple at 9:18 to cut the lead to 11 points.
Temple maintained a sizeable lead over the next five minutes, with the only Michigan points coming off a Ashley Jones (Southfield, Mich./Martin Luther King HS) jumper at 6:07. With the Wolverines trailing 26-11, sophomore Ta'Shia Walker (Lansing, Mich./J.W. Sexton HS) provided a spark with back-to-back buckets to cut the deficit to 11 points with 3:29 remaining in the first half.
Temple finished the half scoring five of the game's next six points. Dierdorf saw her first action since last season's game at Western Michigan (Dec. 14, 2004), as she entered the game at 1:32 and collected one free throw to send the Wolverines to the locker room trailing 31-16.
Michigan finished the first half shooting just 7-of-27 (.259) from the field, while Temple went 13-of-30 (.433).
Temple got off to a quick start in the second half, as Jennifer Owens knocked down a triple on the opening possession. Michigan answered right back, however, with Minnfield canning her second three-pointer to make the score 34-19. The two teams traded baskets over the next few possessions, with Dierdorf converting on a pretty move inside before Skrba drilled another short jump shot. A triple by Stephanie Hicks pushed the Temple lead to 20 points, 43-23, with 15:00 minutes left in the game.
A pair of Skrba free throws spurred a 15-4 Michigan run over the next seven minutes of play. Jones collected a layup off a steal and Benson nailed her first career triple to cut the lead to 43-30, and Minnefield scored five of the next eight U-M points to trim Temple's advantage to single digits, 47-38, with 7:50 to play.
Dierdorf kept Michigan in contention with another tough basket off the glass, and Skrba put home another jumper from the wing to keep the Temple lead at 52-42. A layup in traffic by Benson cut the deficit to 52-44 with 4:28 to go.
That would be as close as the Wolverines would come, as U-M managed just one field goal by Minnfield over the last 3:44 of action. Meanwhile, the Owls extended their lead back into double digits by scoring 11 of the game's final 15 points to seal the victory.
Michigan will face St. Francis (Pa.), an 80-30 loser to host Oregon in Friday's second game, in the third-place contest tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 12). Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. PST at McArthur Court.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
