By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA _ Temple was up a point and minus an assistant coach even before the clock started ticking in the Owls’ Atlantic Ten contest Saturday against winless Fordham yesterday at the Liacouras Center.
The Rams (0-27, 0-12) were assessed a technical foul for not providing the starting lineup in time.
Darius Taylor, a former Michigan co-captain who has been on Dawn Staley’s staff for four seasons, left Friday for a job at NBA headquarters in New York.
Temple (17-11, 10-2), in a three-way fight with Xavier and George Washington atop the conference, shook off a slow start and went on to a 65-48 victory with two games left in the regular season.
Lady Comfort had 12 points for the Owls, while Shanea Cotton and LaKeisha Eaddy each scored 10.
Annie Zopf had 16 points for Fordham and Meghan Mahoney scored 13 points.
Staley praised Fordham’s effort despite the Rams’ record.
“You couldn’t tell by the intangible categories,” Staley said. “They were still hustling, they were still getting loose balls, they were still going after offensive rebounds.
“When a team plays as hard as they played, they make you play harder. I was glad our reserves played with the same amount of intensity and energy.”
The Rams, who are coached by Cathy Andruzzi, could tie Centennary’s futility record of 0-28 when they host Charlotte on Wednesday. They’ll finish the season Saturday at George Washington. Fordham has been eliminated from qualifying for next month’s conference tournament at St. Joseph’s.
Andruzzi ran the local organizing committee here in 2000 when Philadelphia hosted the NCAA Women’s Final Four. That’s the same season Centennary set the dubious record.
She was also the general manager of the Philadelphia Rage in the former American Basketball League when Staley played for the team in 1997-98. Temple assistant Lisa Boyer was the head coach.
-- Mel
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