Kamesha Hairston

With Candice Dupree in Temple's lineup the last three seasons, the Owls had the dominant player and were the dominant team in the Big Five. Now that the all-American center has moved on to become one of the top WNBA rookies, the easy answer as to the best in town no longer exists. St. Joseph's, which opens at home Sunday against Bucknell, is the most experienced among the Big Five teams and Drexel. The Hawks also had a contender for the city's best player in 6-foot-3 Hillary Klimowicz, but the Atlantic Ten rookie of the year decided to transfer to the College of New Jersey, a Division III school.

Temple junior Candice Dupree was a multi-award winner at last night's reception for the Atlantic Ten Conference women's basketball tournament, before the start of competition today at George Washington University. Dupree, a 6-foot-2 center from Tampa, Fla., was named player of the year and defensive player of the year, and subsequently to the all-conference first and defensive teams. Temple's domination of the conference earned the Owls other honors last night. Dawn Staley was named coach of the year for the second straight season.

Ari Moore scored 18 points and Kamesha Hairston added 14 as Temple trounced East Tennessee State, 64-42. Up next for the Owls is a visit tomorrow at Tennessee, tenuously ranked No. 1. Temple held ETSU to 20 percent field-goal shooting and improved to 2-1. But the Owls, who lost to visiting No. 2 Louisiana State on Tuesday, cannot commit 31 turnovers as they did last night and expect to hang with Tennessee, which likely will lose its No. 1...

Kamesha Hairston had 20 points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots and a steal last night as Temple extended its winning streak to six by beating Brown, 71-37, last night at the Liacouras Center. Lady Comfort added 10 points for Temple (10-4), and Candice Burrows scored 11. Shae Fitzpatrick scored 13 for Brown (2-11) Temple coach Dawn Staley praised Hairston: "She's got the eye of the tiger. She's in a groove. "She's playing good basketball, she's taking good shots, and she's finding ways to be effective on both sides of the ball.

After recent weeks of scoreboard-watching, Temple and ninth-ranked George Washington can look straight at each other tomorrow afternoon at the Colonials' Smith Center in the nation's capital. Both squads, tied for first in the Atlantic Ten standings, completed perfect conference runs to date last night with powerful victories to prepare for tomorrow's matchup to decide the regular-season conference title. Temple blasted Duquesne, 72-43, in Pittsburgh, while George Washington smashed St. Joseph's, 87-60, in Washington.

Overtime was the right time for Temple's Jennifer Owens to start hitting three-pointers against No. 15 Georgia last night at the Liacouras Center. The senior guard nailed a trey with 1.6 seconds remaining to give the No. 25 Owls a 69-66 upset of the Bulldogs. "It's probably the biggest shot I've made for this team," Owens said. "This probably beats high school as well. " Temple coach Dawn Staley, also a WNBA all-star point guard with the Houston Comets, was asked if she would have taken the same shot.

Cynthia Jordan made only one three-pointer in last night's game at Massachusetts. And because of it, Temple has now won 20 straight games. Jordan's shot at the buzzer gave the Owls a 66-63 win at the Mullins Center, improving 16th-ranked Temple to 23-3, 15-0 in the Atlantic 10 conference. Jordan took an inbounds pass with 6 seconds left, dribbled to the opposite side of the court and launched the winning shot. Candice Dupree scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Ari Moore and Kamesha Hairston chipped in with 14 points each.

Candice Dupree scored 16 points and Khadija Bowens added 15, leading No. 20 Temple to a 65-46 victory over Richmond last night at the Liacouras Center. The Owls (16-5, 7-2 Atlantic 10) never trailed and led by as many as 26 points when Bowens converted a three-point play with 8:19 remaining. Kamesha Hairston and Ashley Morris scored eight points apiece for Temple, which defeated Richmond for the fifth straight time and improved to 7-0 this season against teams with losing records.

Dawn Staley's name had been mentioned concerning several women's basketball coaching vacancies, including those at Penn State and Florida. Yesterday, the Temple coach officially stopped the rumor mill. The former WNBA all-star has signed a six-year contract extension with the Owls through 2013, athletic director Bill Bradshaw announced. "I was confident that Dawn wanted to stay," Bradshaw said. "I'm excited about the future. It's such a great fit - Dawn, Temple, and Philadelphia.

On paper, the event last night at the Hyatt on Penn's Landing was considered the Big Five's annual women's basketball postseason awards dinner. By the time Temple and La Salle finished compiling most of the major honors, it seemed more like an evening for the Big Two. The Owls, who captured their third straight City Series title, landed three awards, including senior Kamesha Hairston's selection as player of the year. Hairston, chosen in the first round of the WNBA draft by Connecticut, was at the Sun's training camp.

Temple coach Dawn Staley doesn't think this particular team of the six she has steered to NCAA tournaments is under extra pressure. "I don't know if there were a lot of expectations for us getting here this year," Staley said yesterday before practice at the University of Maryland's Comcast Center. "In some of the other years, people expected us to get here and do well. " The No. 11-seeded Owls (21-12) will open about 9:30 tonight against No. 6 Arizona State (21-10) in the Oklahoma City Regional.

Some faces at several Big Five schools and Drexel are familiar. Elsewhere, newcomers could have a major impact on the progress of their teams. The Big Five battles promise to be competitive, even if Temple could be favored to continue its domination of recent seasons. The Owls, trying again to prepare for the Atlantic Ten Conference, will spend much of their nonleague schedule battling Atlantic Coast Conference schools. An early highlight for Temple is a trip to the Virgin Islands to meet No. 10 Duke and Purdue.

While prominent schools across the country were seeking high-profile women's basketball coaches in the spring, Temple made sure its local legend wouldn't be lured away. The Owls signed Dawn Staley to a six-year contract extension just before the Women's Final Four in March. Having built Temple into a nationally respected program since joining the coaching ranks in 2000, Staley returns to a work in progress. Her goal is to take the Owls deep into the NCAA tournament. Temple almost got there in March.

On paper, the event last night at the Hyatt on Penn's Landing was considered the Big Five's annual women's basketball postseason awards dinner. By the time Temple and La Salle finished compiling most of the major honors, it seemed more like an evening for the Big Two. The Owls, who captured their third straight City Series title, landed three awards, including senior Kamesha Hairston's selection as player of the year. Hairston, chosen in the first round of the WNBA draft by Connecticut, was at the Sun's training camp.

Dawn Staley's name had been mentioned concerning several women's basketball coaching vacancies, including those at Penn State and Florida. Yesterday, the Temple coach officially stopped the rumor mill. The former WNBA all-star has signed a six-year contract extension with the Owls through 2013, athletic director Bill Bradshaw announced. "I was confident that Dawn wanted to stay," Bradshaw said. "I'm excited about the future. It's such a great fit - Dawn, Temple, and Philadelphia.

RALEIGH, N.C. - When asked Tuesday night after her team's 62-52 loss to Duke in the NCAA tournament at the RBC Center, Temple coach Dawn Staley said she was no longer interested in moral victories. "It's just hard trying to get over this hump," the former WNBA all-star and three-time Olympic gold medalist said. However, several minutes later, Staley praised her young Owls, who finished at 25-8, for how they had grown after having few expectations at the start of the season. "This season is really a proud moment in my mind," Staley said.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Temple is still alive in the NCAA women's basketball tournament - with a date against No. 1 Duke today - because the Owls have found players to help star forward Kamesha Hairston. Guards Fatima Maddox and Ashley Morris played a big role Sunday night when the eighth-seeded Owls rallied to nip ninth-seeded Nebraska, 64-61, in a first-round game at the RBC Center. This marks the second time in five NCAA appearances under coach Dawn Staley that Temple (25-7) has survived the first round.

Temple won a game of runs last night, allowing its run in the NCAA women's tournament to continue another 2 days, at least. Senior guard Fatima Maddox hit four free throws in the final minute then the Owls played stellar defense on Nebraska's last possession to grab a 64-61 victory. The game, the first ever between the teams, featured seven ties and eight lead changes. "I remember in the huddle, coach [Dawn Staley] said, 'Don't be denied.' So we took that onto the court and played as hard as we could.

Temple got its first order of business accomplished last night in the NCAA women's basketball tournament by beating ninth-seeded Nebraska, 64-61, in a Greensboro Regional first-round game at the RBC Center. Fatima Maddox wrapped up the victory for Temple by hitting four straight foul shots in the game's final 56.8 seconds. The eighth-seeded Owls (25-7) will move to the national spotlight in the next round tomorrow night by meeting No. 1 Duke (31-1). The Blue Devils advanced earlier during the evening doubleheader by zipping past 16th-seeded Holy Cross, 81-44.