TEMPE, Az. –. The Temple women’s basketball team (3-5) fell in the second game of the Briann January Classic, 79-78 to the Pacific Tigers (5-3).  The Owls will go 1-1 in the event after taking down Xavier, 78-41 yesterday. Temple rallied from being down by as many as 16 points to trim the lead to just one point with seven seconds remaining. Aleah Nelson missed what would have been the game winning basket with four seconds left on the clock.
 
Five Owls scored in double figures (East, Nelson, Piper, Tucker, and Washington). It is the third time this season five or more players have scored 10 plus points and the second consecutive game at least four have reached double figures. Nelson led Temple in scoring with 17 and passed for a game-high eight assists.

First Quarter: Temple 15, Pacific 18
> Rayne Tucker scored the first basket of the game to give Temple a 2-0 lead. Temple was fierce on defense early, grabbing three steals in the first three minutes (6-3, TU).
> The scoring was fast and furious in the first five minutes. The Owls got out to a 10-9 lead, with the Owls earning six second chance points.
> Pacific retook the lead at 11-10, but Tarriyonna Gary came right back with Temple’s first three pointer of the game.
> The Tigers build a slight advantage as the quarter wound down, taking an 18-15 into the first stoppage.
> Six Owls scored in the first quarter. Temple earned four steals and six points off turnovers.

Second Quarter: Temple 30, Pacific 39
> Pacific began the second quarter on a 9-4 run to get out to a 26-19 lead.
> After the early run, things began to even out as the teams traded baskets. There were seven combined turnovers in the first five minutes of the quarter.
> The Tigers extended the lead to double-digits (34-24, PAC) before Temple began to eat into the lead. Led by four quick points from Washington, Temple trimmed the lead to six. Pacific scored an and one to go into the half.
 > Tiarra East led the Owls with five points in the frame.

Third Quarter: Temple 47, Pacific 60
> Pacific came out fast in the second half, building a 16-point advantage (50-34, PAC).
> Temple began to chip away at the lead, with three straight charges taken by Temple and baskets from Nelson and Washington (51-40, PAC).
> The comeback stalled as Pacific stretched the lead back to 14 points, but the Owls would not quit, hanging around as the quarter wound down.
>  Washington impressed, scoring six points, grabbing three rebounds, and taking two charges in the quarter.

Fourth Quarter: Temple 78, Pacific 79
> Back-to-back layups from East and Nelson cut the lead back to 11 and forced a timeout from Pacific with 7:44 remaining.
> The Owls broke the lead down to single digits with six minutes remaining off a three pointer from Gary (65-58, PAC). A layup from Taylor brought the score within five points for the first time since the second quarter.
> The teams traded baskets with Tucker dropping the lead to four with four minutes remaining (68-64, PAC). The lead held at four as the sides continued to trade punches.
> Pacific cashed in on a second chance to put the lead back at seven with 30 seconds left on the clock (77-70, PAC).
> East made a critical steal on the inbound pass with 12 seconds remaining and found an open Gary in the corner to cut the lead to two points. Pacific attempted to call timeout but had none remaining. Nelson went 1-2 from the stripe to bring the lead down to just one point. The guard missed the jumper with two seconds on the clock.

Game Notes 
> Several former Temple stars made the trip to Tempe to support the Owls, including WNBA star and Big 5 Player of the Year Shey Peddy, all time field goal percentage leader Lady Comfort, and Temple single-game scoring record holder Kristen McCarthy.
> Washington scored 12 points, the third highest total of her career. She tied her season-high in rebounds with six.
> Temple forced 23 turnovers by Pacific.
> This is the third straight game Nelson has passed for at least six assists. She has scored in double figures in three of the last four games.
> Tucker scored ten points and grabbed eight rebounds. It is the third time in four games she has scored ten plus points.

Up Next
> Temple comes home to The Liacouras Center to face Big 5 rival Penn on Sunday, December 10 at 2 pm. The game will stream on ESPN+ and the Varsity Network App. Tickets are available at Owlstix.com.