BACK TO BACK A-10 CHAMPS!!

March 10, 2008

Box Score |  Notes

PHILADELPHIA - Junior guard Jerri Taylor led all scorers with 14 points and came up with a big steal with under 10-seconds remaining to lead the Xavier University women's basketball team to a 47-42 victory over Temple and to its second consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship on Monday evening in Philadelphia.  With the win, the No. 3 seeded Musketeers improve to 24-8 on the season while the top-seeded Owls slip to 22-12.  With the Championship, XU earns the Atlantic 10 Conference's automatic bid into the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship.    

Freshman center Ta'Shia Phillips was named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, notched her 18^th double-double of the season with a 10-point, 13-rebound effort.  She was 4-of-7 from the floor and six of her boards came on the offensive glass.

Sophomore forward Amber Harris was named to the All-Championship Team and scored 12 points, snatched six rebounds and blocked five shots. 

The Musketeers have now won four Atlantic 10 Championships since the 2000 season and the team improves to a league best 22-9 all-time in A-10 Championship play.  XU is 8-1 all-time as the defending A-10 Champion. 

"It was a hard-fought game," said head coach Kevin McGuff. "Temple is a great team that can defend and rebound as well as anybody we've played. I'm really proud with the way we dug in down the stretch in such a hard-fought game to get a lot of great stops and tough rebounds." 
     

Taylor's 14 came on 4-of-6 shooting and she was a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the 3-point arc. 

XU built a 44-39 lead at the 3:40 mark but Temple was able to cut the deficit to two points, 44-42, after Shanea Cotton converted on a put back.  Amber Harris answered with a free throw with 25 seconds to go to put Xavier up by three points. 

Taylor was pressuring Ashley Morris just outside the 3-point arc on the ensuing possession and she tipped the ball away, corralled it and dribbled up the floor.  She was fouled with eight-seconds remaining and buried both free throws to ice the game.    

XU held Temple to just 25.4 percent shooting, including a 21.9 percent mark in the second half. 

Temple led 24-21 at the break but built the lead to five points, 34-29, after Shenita Landry connected on a jump shot at the 14-minute mark.  However, the Musketeers locked down the Owls for the remainder of the game, holding Temple to only eight points and three field goals for the remainder. 

The Musketeers sprinted out to a 15-5 run over the next 3:40 and seized a 44-39 after Ta'Shia Phillips converted on back-to-back buckets. 

Temple got off to a quick start and jumped out to a 5-0 lead after Lady Comfort converted on an old-fashioned 3-point play 2:40 into the contest. 

XU's first field goal would not come for another 1:50 when Taylor drilled a pull up jumper and that jumper shot sparked a 7-1 XU spurt that ended when Taylor buried a 3-pointer, giving Xavier a 12-11 lead at the 12:10 mark. 

That was the first of six first-half lead changes and Temple headed into the break up 24-21. 

Xavier will now await its seed and opponent in the 2008 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship.  Pairings will be announced on Monday, March 17. 

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Players Mentioned

Amber Harris

Ta'Shia Phillips

Jerri Taylor

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