This past weekend Temple women s basketball powered through the first and second rounds of the Women s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT). The Owls defeated Drexel on the Dragons home court Friday night and held on to their lead over Quinnipiac on Sunday to win a nail-biter of a game. With those two wins, the team secured a spot in the WNIT Sweet 16 for the second year in a row.

The team will host Ohio University with home-court advantage at McGonigle Hall Thursday, March 24 at 7 p.m. The Owls enter the game with a 22 11 record, and the Bobcats bested Marshall and Virginia Tech to reach the third round of the Tournament. Ohio has a 26 6 record for the season.

Philadelphia Big 5 Awards
Following the win over Quinnipiac, four Owls learned they had won Philadelphia Big 5 Awards, announced Monday. The Big 5 consists of five prestigious Philadelphia universities La Salle, Pennsylvania, Saint Joseph's, Temple and Villanova and the top players and coaches each year are honored with Philadelphia Big 5 Awards.

The Owls Alliya Butts was named to the All-Big 5 first team, Feyonda Fitzgerald and Tanaya Atkinson were selected as second-team All-Big 5, and Erica Covile was named the city series top free throw shooter with a season average of 88.8 percent. The women will receive their awards during the Big 5 banquet, to be held April 11.

Buy tickets for Thursday s game.

Related stories:
Women s basketball selected for WNIT Tournament
Women's basketball scores 800th win