We're Number One!

Senior point guard Ashley Morris had a career-high 11 assists and senior center Lady Comfort totaled 12 points and 13 rebounds as the Temple women’s basketball team earned the top seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament with a 64-46 victory over UMass on Saturday afternoon at The Liacouras Center.

On Senior Day, Morris and Comfort both struggled to put the ball in the basket, but teammates LaKeisha Eaddy (16 points) and Shaqwedia Wallace (10 points) picked up the slack as the Owls wrapped up the regular season with an overall record of 19-11.

Temple and George Washington both finished 12-2 in Atlantic 10 play, with the Owls getting the top seed because they beat the Colonials, 68-66, in January.

Coach Dawn Staley’s squad has won 12 of its last 13 games heading into the A-10 Tournament, which starts on Friday. The Owls will play in the first quarterfinal game on Saturday at noon. The tournament is being held at St. Joseph’s Fieldhouse.

Morris, Comfort, and fellow seniors Nicole Pittman and Candice Borrows were honored before the game on Saturday, and Pittman and Borrows were both in the starting lineup. The game was close for more than 30 minutes, as Morris, who came in averaging 15.3 points per game, missed 10 of her first 11 field goal attempts.

Eaddy had no such trouble. In fact, she couldn’t miss. The 5-6 sophomore went 7 for 7 from the field, including two three-pointers, on a perfect shooting day. Wallace reached double figures for just the second time in her freshman campaign.

Leading 43-38 with 10 minutes to go, Temple went on an 11-3 run over the next five minutes to secure the victory over the Minutewomen, who finished 13-16, 5-9 in A-10 play.

The Owls were ranked 55th in the RPI prior to Saturday’s contest. They’ll need to win at least one, and possibly two games in the A-10 Tournament in order to lock up their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth. Or maybe they can make it simple by doing what they did in 2004, 2005, and 2006 – win the whole thing.