Atlantic 10 Championship Semi-Finals: Temple and Xavier Advance

By James Greenspan: SPM NJ Writer
Posted Monday, March 10, 2008

Temple Holds Off A Late Rally By Dayton Advances to A-10 Championship

PHILADELPHIA – In a hard fought exciting and physical basketball game, the Temple Owls fought off a late surge by the Dayton Flyers to advance to their fourth championship game in the last five years, and their 8th overall. Temple was led by Senior guard Ashley Morris who had a game high 14 points. She also contributed 7 assists and 6 rebounds for a solid overall day.

Both teams came out sharp in the first half and the game had a tense nervous energy about it as Dayton worked hard to stay with the talented Owl squad. Extremely hot shooting, as well as tough, hard-nosed defense helped Dayton to stick close throughout the first half and the frame came to an end tied at 28.

Throughout the first 8 minutes of the second half the teams remained tight, and with 12:40 remaining in the game, Dayton’s Kiki Lund sank a seemingly innocuous jumper to make the score 39-43 in favor of Temple. However, that would be the last field goal Dayton would score for 8 minutes and 6 seconds of game time. During that stretch the Owls went on a 9-0 run which put the game out of reach for the Flyers.

But Dayton was able to put together a mini-run and with Karah Cloxton sinking the free-throw on the back end of a 3 point play, the Flyers drew to within 4 points of Temple at 55-51 with exactly one minute remaining in the game. On this day, however, a Flyer comeback was not to be as Temple made their free-throws down the stretch and won the game by a final of 56-51.

Lady Comfort and Lindsay Kimmel also contributed to the Temple cause, scoring 10 and 12 points respectively. Comfort also added 11 rebounds for her 7th double-double of the season.

For the Flyers, Kiki Lund had 10 points off the bench to lead the team in scoring. The Flyers' leading scorer on the season, Nikki Oakland, was held to only 6 points. Discussing the possible end of her illustrious career at Dayton, Oakland said, “hopefully it’s not over, hopefully we can go to the post-season. I love this team, and I don’t my career to be over.” The Flyers are a long shot for the NCAA tournament, they would have to receive an at-large bid and they would likely be the A-10’s 4th team into the tournament, a scenario which is highly unlikely.

Temple will takes on Xavier for the Atlantic 10 Championship on Monday at 5pm, The game will be aired nationally on ESPN2.

#3 Xavier Upsets #2(12) George Washington To Advance To A-10 Title Game

Foul trouble and free-throw shooting were the story in the late semifinal of the women’s A-10 tournament as Xavier took advantage of early foul trouble on George Washington’s (No. 12 ESPN/USA Today, No. 13 AP) twin forwards Jessica and Jazmine Adair.

In a first half which saw GW shoot 4-9 (.444) from 3-point range the Adair sisters each got into early foul trouble with the First Team All A-10 star Jessica picking up her second foul with 10 minutes remaining and sister Jazmine getting her third with 2:30 remaining. Despite the early trouble, GW was leading 30-24 at the break and seemed to have things well in hand.

Just two minutes into the second half, however, Jessica Adair picked up her third and fourth fouls within four seconds of each other. Her sister Jazmine wasn’t far behind as she picked up her fourth with 16:27 remaining in the half. With the “twin towers” sitting on the bench, Xavier was able to go on an 18-6 run which took them from being down by six to leading by six, at 46-40.

Despite her foul trouble, and perhaps sensing the game was hanging in the balance, GW coach Joe KcKeown sent his star Jessica Adair back into the game with 8:36 remaining. Adair’s presence was immediately felt as she galvanized her team, making six straight foul attempts to quickly have the Colonials back in the game.

The score see-sawed over the next 7 minutes with neither team leading by more than four points. However the key play that put Xavier ahead for good came on the A-10 Sixth Player of the Year’s old-fashioned three-point play. Her foul shot on the back end put her Xavier squad up 57-54, and with Maureen Hester’s two clutch free throws with 3.9 seconds on the clock Xavier knocked off George Washington 63-59.

Xavier was led in scoring by Ta’Shia Phillips' 22 point. Phillips had huge game inside with the absence of the Adair sisters defending her. Amber Harris and Jerri Taylor also chipped in with 15 and 10 points respectively.

George Washington was led by Antelia Parrish with 13 while Jessica Adair and Whitney Allen each contributed 10.

With the win Xavier advances to its second straight A-10 Championship game. The Musketeers will look to defend their title against the talented and dangerous Temple Owls on ESPN2 Monday at 5pm.