Morris has 19 as Temple beats Richmond 70-62 in A10 tournament

3/8/2008 3:08 PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Ashley Morris had 19 points and Lindsay Kimmel added 12 as top-seeded Temple held off eighth-seeded Richmond 70-62 in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament on Saturday.

Temple (20-11) will face the winner of match between No. 4 seed Charlotte and fifth-seeded Dayton in Sunday's semifinals. The Owls have advanced to the semifinals for the eighth consecutive year.

Shanea Cotton contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds and Lady Comfort also had 10 for the Owls, who won their sixth in a row and their 13th in 14 games.

Brittani Shells scored 18 points, Christina Campion added 13 and Johanna McKnight had 10 for Richmond (14-17).

Temple built a 40-21 lead early in the second half before the Spiders embarked on an 18-4 run to close within 44-39 with 13:03 remaining. The Owls responded with five straight points to stretch their lead back to 10, but Richmond made a 13-4 run to cut the margin to 53-52 with 6:57 left.

But Temple then scored six straight points - two free throws by Cotton, two by Comfort and a basket by Shenita Landry - to take a 59-52 lead with 5:49 remaining. Richmond never got within five the rest of the way.

Temple shot 40 percent from the field and also converted 28 of 42 free throws. Richmond hit only 20-of-65 field goals (31 percent) and attempted 21 fewer free throws (15-of-21).

The game, the first of four quarterfinal matchups, was delayed 90 minutes because of a leak in the roof at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse on the campus of Saint Joseph's.