The Temple College Leopards women's basketball team took on Blinn College in their final game before Christmas Saturday afternoon at Kirby Johnson Court.

In a battle of two of the best rebounding teams in the nation, the Buccaneers took advantage of early Leopards' shooting struggles and came away with a 71-47 win.

Temple (9-3) kept the game close early and led 4-2 before Blinn finished off the first quarter on a 9-2 run to give themselves an 11-6 lead by the end of the first quarter.

While the Leopards struggled to find field goals, the Buccaneers fought their way to a 21-9 second quarter and led at the halftime break, 32-15.

Temple began to feel their offense in the third quarter, with Korina Garcia jumpstarting the Leopards with six points in the period. However, the Buccaneers outscored TC in the third quarter, 23-18, and took a 55-32 advantage into the final ten minutes.

The teams continued to play up tempo in the fourth quarter, with Blinn (9-6) outscoring the Leopards in the period, 16-14, to win the game by 24.

Temple shot 22.4% (15-of-67) from the floor, 1-of-17 from beyond the arc, and 16-of-25 from the free throw line. The Leopards, who came into the game averaging 51.4 rebounds per game, pulled down 44, which included 21 offensive boards.

Garcia led all scorers with 14 points. Daija Mitchell had 14 rebounds, which included seven offensive.

Taylor Spencer, Mariah Houston, and Cynthia LeCompte each scored 12 points for Blinn.

The Leopards will host Western Texas College on Friday, Jan. 2 at 1 pm at Kirby Johnson Court. Temple and Blinn will play the back end of their home-and-home series on Sat. Jan. 3 at Kruse Center in Brenham.