Owls Turn To Stone

Sophomore forward Jasmine Stone returned to the active lineup for the Temple women’s basketball team on Sunday – not a day too soon for Coach Dawn Staley’s squad. Stone, who was academically ineligible to play during the first semester, contributed five points and eight rebounds in the Owls’ 72-68 victory at Western Michigan.

Now that Stone is back, the “What if?” question for the Owls is obvious.

What if Stone, the second-highest rated recruit in the history of the program, had been able to play in the first 10 games this season?

Maybe the Owls could have beaten Georgia or Georgia Tech or Duke or N.C. State. Maybe they wouldn’t have blown a 17-point halftime lead against Stanford. Maybe they would be ranked in the Top 25, instead of facing the long climb up from a 5-6 start.

Having played a schedule that currently ranks 27th in the RPI, the Owls aren’t in particularly bad shape with five more non-conference games before they start Atlantic 10 play. But the potential was there, this season, to make an early national splash.

And they came so agonizingly close – leading at Georgia (RPI No. 4) with four minutes to go, down by three against Duke (RPI No. 19) with 2:30 remaining, missing shot after shot in a last-minute loss to N.C. State.

Stone, a multi-talented 6-3 forward who averaged 3.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game last season, certainly wouldn’t have hurt Temple’s cause. But there’s no point in dwelling on the past.

Ironically, the Owls struggled quite a bit with Stone back in the lineup on Sunday. Against a mediocre Western Michigan team that previously lost to perennial A-10 also-ran Dayton by 25 points, Temple had to hold on for a four-point win.

Maybe that’s just life on the road. After all, WMU (3-7 overall) had won its only two home games this season.

The Owls need to take advantage of their homecourt advantage in upcoming games against resurgent Villanova (Friday night) and Penn (Dec. 27). Then comes a trip to RPI No. 5 Rutgers (Dec. 30). Stone will definitely help in that one.