Owls

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - It was Temple's test, a chance to see how the No. 21-ranked team would respond to adversity early in the season following a disappointing loss the previous night. And the Owls (3-1) proved to be resilient, as they bounced back in their second game of the Old Spice Classic, defeating Georgia, 65-58, last night at the HP Field House. The previous night, Temple had to tip off at 10 p.m. and fell, 57-50, to an inexperienced California squad. The Owls lost a second-half lead after Cal went on a 16-1 run, meaning that Temple would have its shot at redemption against a Southeastern Conference opponent.

Having never lost in 13 previous Atlantic 10 Tournament opening-round games, Temple's win over Xavier was little more than an afterthought. It isn't really a big deal, either, that the Owls forced 18 turnovers in their 67-50 victory yesterday at the Civic Center; their harassing matchup zone usually averages 13-plus turnovers a game. Holding Xavier to its season low of 50 points, too, is just slightly better than the 58-point average Temple allows. That the Owls shot 54.5 percent from the field, however, is a major aberration.

Temple's 21st-ranked women's basketball team hasn't wasted time in its campaign to make senior center Candice Dupree an all-American and to return to the NCAA tournament. The Owls won a closely fought 51-46 game over host Oregon to claim the Women's Sports Foundation Classic title late Saturday night in Eugene, Ore. The win came after an easy 65-48 win over Michigan in the Owls' opener Friday. Dupree collected 21 points and 15 rebounds against Oregon to earn most-valuable-player honors for the tournament.

With former North Carolina player John Kuester coaching George Washington, Eddie Coe and his teammates knew what to expect when Temple visited the Colonials last night for an Atlantic 10 Conference game. "We knew their coach came from North Carolina and we knew he would use their offense and defense," Coe said after the Owls defeated the Colonials, 74-51. "We played them a couple of years ago (a second-round loss in the 1984 NCAA tournament) so we were kind of expecting some of their plays.

After 41 minutes of basketball, Temple finally found itself with the lead. The Owls had come back from a horrible start to force overtime against No. 5 Xavier, and the game seemed to swing their way. Except the hard-won momentum came to an abrupt halt. Temple was scoreless in the last 4 minutes of overtime. The Owls' last shot, Shaqwedia Wallace's layup at the buzzer, bounced off the back of the rim and Temple lost to the Musketeers in last night's Atlantic 10 championship game, 57-55.

Ball State's defense was so preoccupied with Temple guard Dionte Christmas during the stretch run of last night's game that it created opportunities for others. Such as Mark Tyndale. Tyndale set a screen for Christmas on an out-of-bounds play under the Owls' basket with less than 8 minutes to play. When Ball State overplayed Christmas, Tyndale spun toward the hoop, took an inbounds pass from Semaj Inge and scored. Tyndale, Christmas and Inge were central figures in a 15-0 scoring run late in the second half to guide Temple to a 75-70 victory in front of 4,046 fans in Worthen Arena.

Penn State defeated Temple, 13-11, yesterday in women's lacrosse at Temple's Geasey Field. Temple, now 3-4, entered the game ranked 18th in the country in the Women's Lacrosse Association poll. Penn State (5-5) went into the game ranked 16th. Patience Synnestvedt of Bryn Athyn scored four goals to guide Temple to an 8-6 lead just before halftime, but Penn State scored seven consecutive goals to pull away. Kate Affonsa of Springfield (Delco) started the comeback just before the break with a score with 1 minute, 43 seconds left in the half.

Temple left a valuable piece of equipment home when it departed from Philadelphia on Friday for yesterday's football game here against East Carolina - tailback Ventres Stevenson. Stevenson, the team's leading rusher with 841 yards this season, was suspended for disciplinary reasons and was not with the Owls in their 31-24 loss to the Pirates yesterday at Ficklen Stadium. Temple coach Jerry Berndt would say nothing more than that Stevenson had been left home for "breaking a team rule.

Temple was a member of the Big East only 14 seasons for football, a relationship the Big East ended after the 2004 campaign. During that era, the Owls won 14 conference games. Only once did they win their conference opener, in 1997. Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field, the Owls will finally play their first game as a member of the Mid-American Conference, which at some point figures to become a lot more user-friendly to the guys on North Broad Street. After being mostly overmatched against an independent schedule the past 2 years, the Owls at least can now glimpse their future.

The Temple football team has received an oral commitment from quarterback Collin Hannigan of Paul VI Catholic High in Northern Virginia. Hannigan, who is 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, passed for 16 touchdowns and 1,605 yards as Paul VI went 9-3-1 and won the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship last fall. Hannigan is expected to make his choice official when the national signing period begins on Feb. 2. He will join holdover starter Devin Scott, who will be a junior next season, junior Mac DeVito, and sophomore Louis Angelo in Temple's quarterback stable.