By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA - One of Temple's most veteran players is still excelling as a new kid on the block for the Owls against their rugged nonconference opponents.
Senior point guard Ashley Morris set yet another career high Saturday with 28 points in a 57-52 loss to North Carolina State at the Liacouras Center.
The setback, which dropped Temple to 3-5, was another one against teams either ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press women's poll or highly-regarded Atlantic Coast Conference squads such as Georgia Tech and the Wolfpack (8-1).
Morris single-handedly kept Temple in the game until the closing minute.
Four seasons ago, the graduate of Central High arrived at Temple as one of the brightest stars of the Public League.
Unfortunately, Morris also played a position of which her coach Dawn Staley excelled in a career spanning Dobbins Tech through NCAA Final Fours at Virginia, Olympic gold medals and WNBA All-Star appearances and playoff participation.
In other words, demands are much greater on the quarterback of the offense because of the standards established by the teacher.
Thus Morris spent so much time on the bench the previous three go-rounds as a virtual spectator that there was speculation student season-ticket fees might be deducted from the value of her scholarship.
``It was tough but it wasn't until I realized why I was sitting there and what I had to learn,'' Morris said. ``Now I see everything and everything is coming so much easier.'
The first season was understandable. Ask former Temple star Cynthia Jordan about her early career on North Broad Street after arriving as a highly-regarded sensation out of the Tidewater area in Virginia.
```Coach' knows just who I am and I how I fight and how I work hard,'' Morris said. "That's who I am. I've always been this way.
``It's just my time now -- my turn. I had to wait my turn. I think that's with everybody that comes through the program. You have to wait your turn because there's so much to learn from an Olympian and everything she's done for basketball -- you have so much to learn from her and you won't progress until wait your turn.''
Finally, during the NCAA tournament, she began to resemble the star she was in the Public League, especially in a last-minute win over Nebraska in the first round.
Staley said at the time Morris was going to get the car keys, but little was known how well she might drive a squad that was about to become much younger in experience.
``When I step on a court, I've always had the same scoring ability, the same vision on the court," Morris described her preparations over the summer. ``But I had to take a step back who I was to this basketball team and what I had to do mentally, because in the past I hadn't been ready mentally. I hadn't stepped up and done the things I need to do up here (her head) as opposed to shooting the ball and just the physical things.
``I'm going to work hard. But something has to click in your mind so you know who you are and like Shenia (Landry) says, she knows her role on the team," Morris continued.
``And once you figure out what your role is, everything else will fall into place.''
Landry spoke eloquently of Morris.
``She's our head and our heart," the native of Milwaukee said. ``Because Ashley plays with a lot of heart then she's just the head -- like she runs the team, and one defense, if you're down, she's going to say something to you and if you're not doing something right, she's going to let you know.''
The Temple coach let Morris know plenty what the expectations were through her previous three seasons that one expected at any moment for her to be wearing a jersey with the label "Staley's doghouse."
But the Temple coach remained patient and Morris, who at 5-foot-5 certainly is playing much bigger than her tiny frame, especially against Temple's quality opponents.
``I'm not intimidated by anyone," Morris said. "I don't care if they have `Duke' on their jersey, I don't care if they have `N.C. State' on their jersey. I don't care if I'm in practice and it says `Temple' on their jersey.
``It doesn't matter to me. I'm going to play the same. It's no different.''
Staley has been trying to find ways to compensate the offense to get a flow because of Morris' size being a hinderance in half-court sets.
``If we had different personnel,'' Staley said, "she might not be scoring as much. `If I can get half her shots to (center) Lady Comfort, -- Lady shoots 55 percent -- we might win some of these games.
"She knows. In the half-court set, we have major problems at times, and that's where she has to manage it. As far as managing the game, it's an area she still has to work. She has to score and manage the game -- and that's something we're lacking right now.''
Temple, incidentally, since we hadn't had a chance to note it previously, has announced two recruits who have signed letters of intent.
Miranda Tate is a 6-foot-guard out of Chicago who picked the Owls over Texas A&M, Illinois, Xavier and South Florida.
Kristen McCarthy is a 6-foot forward out of La Puente, Calif. who led her high school to two Division III California state titles. Tate led her school to the 2006 Illinois state championship and returned her teammates to the same game last season.
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'Cats amd Hawks on Collision Course
As we glanced at our Blackberry to check other scores on the way to Saturday's Temple game, the 31-6 indicator out of the the Pavilion on the Main Line made us think the service providing results was forgetting to update Penn's side of the the Quakers' Big Five tilt at Villanova.
Penn coach Pat Knapp and Villanova's Harry Perretta have been on opposite sidelines dating back to Knapp's previous days coaching Georgetown against the Wildcats in the Big East.
On Saturday, however, Knapp couldn't be faulted for wondering whether Villanova had transformed for a day into Connecticut.
Final score: Villanova 66-26 after a lead as wide as 62-17 to make the Wildcats 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Five. Perretta's bunch could easily be 7-0 for not a cold spell in a loss at Loyola, Md., the second game of the season.
Stacie Witman had 22 points for Villanova and Lisa Karcic had 17.
Defensively, it was the first time the Wildcats held a team under 30 since a game against Rider in 1987 in the Shelly Pennefather era.
Penn, which fell to 3-4 overall and 0-2 in the Big Five, was led by Carrie Biemer and Amy Donovan with eight points each. Subtractring Biemer, the four other Quaker starters combined for 1-for-21 from the floor.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph's fed off its near-upset of No. 5 Rutgers on Wednesday night to beat Manhattan, 65-58, in the first round of Brown's tournament.
Timisha Gomez had 17 points for the Hawks (4-2) who will meet the host Bears (1-7) in Providence Sunday afternoon.
St. Joseph's was 9-for-18 on three-point attempts.
Villanova and St. Joseph's will meet at Villanova Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
It's early but this game has a lot of implications. Locally, a win for the Wildcats could give them the title outright with a win over Temple on Dec. 21. But the Owls have averted that situation before.
A St. Joseph's win will really open the Big Five race in that the Hawks won't return to City Series action until much later doubling up one of their Teample games and the La Salle game with the Atlantic Ten race.
On a larger scale, if both teams go on to have successful seasons, the winner over the other could have a slight edge when it comes to consider at-large bids to the NCAA tournament, which is not to say both could go with the proper season resumes.
Final Four Week
Well, it sure seems that way. The UConn-Tennessee matchup may be gone from the season slate, but one can't deny juice flowing over similar high-power attractions this week, several with a bit of revenge ambitions involved.
One of those is Sunday night when No. 4 North Carolina meets No. 1 Tennesee at 7 p.m.
As much as Tennessee went on to win the NCAA title, remember the Tar Heels decided to imitate their men's team in terms of a tournament fold. North Carolina had solid control of the semifinal matchup with the Lady Vols until fading down the stretch, not all in due to Tennessee's defense.
While Tennessee is most certainly on track for a No. 1 seed this March in the NCAA field, unforeseen injuries notwithstanding, North Carolina gets discussed on those terms with an upset Sunday night.
Then on Monday night, No. 3 Maryland visits No. 5 Rutgers, which could be No. 4 Rutgers by game time if UNC loses to the Vols.
It's the first meeting between the two since 1998. Both teams are on a No. 1 seed tract, but the winner Monday night gets a slight edge on the other in terms of being at least the No. 3 overall seed.
On Thursday night, Rutgers travels to No. 11 Duke, which won't be No. 11 when the next poll comes out because of last week's loss to Vanderbilt.
It's the first meeting between the two since March when Rutgers edged Duke, the No. 1 overall seed, in the region semifinals and went on to the Final Four.
Duke has an event-filled week, beginning Sunday night when the Blue Devils travel to Penn State as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Its the Lady Lions' opportunity to salvage something for the Big Ten that has been run over so far.
After the Rutgers game, the Blue Devils will follow the Scarlet Knights to Madison Square Garden in New York for Saturday's Maggie Dixon Classic doubleheader. Rutgers will meet host Army after Duke meets Pittsburgh, which has undergone a renaissance the last two seasons.
`George Not Doing It
First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of those in the Smith Center. Also mark down, first in the hearts of stunning setbacks early in the season.
That would be No. 16 George Washington, the overwhelming favorite in the Atlantic Ten Conference and returning virtually everyone off one of the best seasons in the Colonials' history.
First came the rout at home by Rutgers, in part forgiveable at the time because the Scarlet Knights were looking to break out against someone.
Although A-10 followers raised their eyebrows in retrospect this week when St. Joseph's, the No. 5 pick in the conference by the coaches, narrowly missed upsetting the Scarlet Knights.
Furthermore, Temple, picked fourth, may not be winning against high-powered opponents, but the Owls are getting enough experience to pose a stronger threat to the Colonials in the conference race.
George Washington's fortunes got worse after Rutgers.
Last week came a loss at James Madison, in part due to injuries, followed by Friday night's loss to UNLV in New Orleans' tournament after holding a 24-point lead. GW recovered to edge Samford for third place,
We'll be back very late Sunday night to wrap up the weekend and set up the tilt in Piscataway where the irresistible force (Maryland) will meet the unyielding defense (Rutgers).
-- Mel
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