PHILADELPHIA (02/05/02) - A solid second half effort by the Temple women's basketball team (13-8, 8-2 A-10, 3-0 Big Five) helped the Owls take control of a pivotal Atlantic 10 and Big Five contest and defeat Saint Joseph's (16-5, 7-3 A-10, 2-1 Big Five) at the Liacouras Center, 77-65. The Hawk loss snapped a 14-game City Series winning streak, while TU clinched at least a share of this season's Big Five title. The defeat also moved SJU a full game behind Temple in the A-10's Eastern Division. The Hawks were again led by senior Susan Moran, who appeared to have regained her shooting touch from the field (7-14 FG) and finished with 17 points. Moran now has 2,073 career points and is just five points shy of surpassing Dale Hodges school record of 2,077. Following an exciting first half that saw SJU battle back to take the lead on several occasions before the break, Temple asserted itself after intermission. Jane Meade's three-point basket to open the half put the Hawks up by a bucket 38-36. That basket, however, would give the Crimson and Gray their final advantage of the contest. A three-pointer by Stacey Smalls answered Meade and ignited an 11-2 Temple spurt that put the Owls up by seven points, 47-40. A three by Amra Mehmedic and a layup by Stephanie Graff quickly sliced the lead back down to two. Mehmedic, who failed to start for the first time in her collegiate career, scored 13 points and Graff posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. The tandem seemed to be the spark plugs for SJU all game long, keeping SJU in contention. Nonetheless, Temple had an answer for every Hawk rally. Three hoops from Toni Belafonte and bucket from Athena Christoforakis pushed the lead back out to seven points. A short jumper and a layup by Mehmedic and a driving lay-in by Meade trimmed the Owl lead briefly back down to three points. A surprising three-pointer from the top of the arc by TU's Lisa Jakubowicz, however, started a decisive 14-3 run over a four minute stretch late in the contest that put the game away. Down by 14 points with 4:41 left, the Hawks would not be able to get closer than nine the rest of the way. Temple jumped out to an early lead in the first half, but the Hawks held tough. Trailing by nine points with 6:31 to go before intermission, SJU used a 12-2 spurt to take their first lead of the ball game, 29-28. Moran sparked the run and scored seven of her 17 points during that span. The lead would then change hands five more times before the break with Temple holding a one point lead at halftime, 36-35. The Hawks had hoped that a change to the starting lineup would be the answer for their sluggish play of late. Elizabeth "Hootie" Mohan and Colleen McGahan both were inserted into the lineup in place of Mehmedic and Amy Snell, respectively. The Hawks turned the ball over in the game 20 times to just 10 by the Owls. The defeat was the first official Big Five loss for the Hawk senior class of Meade, Moran, Snell and McGahan. Christoforakis led Tempe with 21 points and 9 rebounds and Natalia Isaac added 20 points. The Hawks will depart for their trip to Ohio on Thursday afternoon. SJU will face Xavier at the Cintas Center in Cincinatti on Friday evening and then take on Dayton on Sunday afternoon.