Owls roll and await showdow

After recent weeks of scoreboard-watching, Temple and ninth-ranked George Washington can look straight at each other tomorrow afternoon at the Colonials' Smith Center in the nation's capital.

Both squads, tied for first in the Atlantic Ten standings, completed perfect conference runs to date last night with powerful victories to prepare for tomorrow's matchup to decide the regular-season conference title.

Temple blasted Duquesne, 72-43, in Pittsburgh, while George Washington smashed St. Joseph's, 87-60, in Washington.

Ashley Morris scored 14 points for the Owls (23-5, 13-0 Atlantic Ten), who are after their fourth straight conference-tournament title and automatic NCAA bid, which will be determined next week in Cincinnati.

Kamesha Hairston added 12 points for Temple, and freshman Jasmine Stone grabbed 12 rebounds.

Temple, which has won eight straight, had a 28-21 halftime lead before breaking the game open and going 44-22 the rest of the way.

Jocelyn Chandler scored 13 points for the Dukes (7-19, 2-11).

In Washington, Sarah-Jo Lawrence and Jessica Adair each scored 26 points for the Colonials (24-2, 13-0), who have won 17 straight and reached a team scoring high for the season.

Erica Pollock and Ayahna Cornish each scored 10 points for St. Joseph's (15-12, 7-6), and Pollock grabbed 10 rebounds.

Harvard 66, Penn 59 - Joey Rhoads scored 19 points and Monica Naltner 18 for the Quakers (9-14, 4-6 Ivy League), who were officially eliminated from the league title race at the Palestra by the first-place Crimson (11-12, 9-1).