Too Close For Comfort

Playing without its center of attention, 6-2 senior Lady Comfort, Temple suffered a 74-70 loss to The All-Stars in an exhibition game at McGonigle Hall on Wednesday night. Comfort missed the game with a minor injury, but will definitely be ready to play, according to a Temple spokesperson, when the Owls open regular season play against Central Michigan on Monday night.

Playing without its center of attention, 6-2 senior Lady Comfort, the Temple women’s basketball team suffered a 74-70 loss to The All-Stars in an exhibition game at McGonigle Hall on Wednesday night. Comfort missed the game with a minor injury, but will definitely be ready to play, according to a Temple spokesperson, when the Owls open regular season play against Central Michigan on Monday night at The Liacouras Center.

With Comfort on the bench, freshman Marli Bennett joined veteran forwards Shenita Landry and Nicole Pittman in the starting lineup for Coach Dawn Staley’s squad. Sophomore guard LaKeisha Eaddy scored a game-high 19 points and senior backcourt mate Ashley Morris had 15 points and four assists.

Most of the backcourt minutes went to Eaddy, Morris, and heralded freshman Lindsay Kimmel, who flashed her perimeter-shooting prowess hitting 3 of 7 three-point attempts to finish with nine points in 20 minutes. The other newcomer who made a splash was junior college transfer Shanea Cotton, who totaled seven points, nine rebounds, and three steals in 19 minutes.

But the result was not particularly impressive, as the Owls came up short against an opponent that was trounced by LSU (94-35) and TCU (78-47) in earlier exhibition games. In fact, the four-point margin was the same that The All-Stars enjoyed in an earlier victory over Lamar. And Lamar is worse than you think in women’s basketball.

Nevertheless, the Owls should be in good shape when Central Michigan comes to town. The Chippewas finished 11-19 last year and hired a new coach this offseason. They were beaten in their exhibition opener last week by Division II Ferris State.