The Temple College women's basketball team traveled to Terrell on Wednesday to take on the Southwestern Christian College Rams in a must-win game in the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference race.

In a game that saw both teams with sizable leads and comebacks and the Leopards down to five players at the finish, it took 55 minutes to decide a winner. The Leopards went to battle in not one, not two, but three overtimes to put the Rams away, 114-111.

Temple (16-12 overall, 6-8 NTJCAC) sprinted off the mark hot, as Kyla Clark, Emori Lasalle, and Korina Garcia combined on a 13-4 run over the first 2:30 of the game. The Leopards led by as many as 11 points in the quarter, as they had a 22-11 advantage with 2:55 left in the opening period.

Southwestern Christian (5-22 overall, 3-11), feeling invigorated by their Sophomore Night celebration, went on a 10-2 run end the first quarter, win Temple having clung to a three-point lead, 24-21.

The Rams outscored Temple in the second quarter, 15-6, and took a six-point lead into the locker room with a 36-30 score.

SWCC opened their biggest lead of the game to eight points with a three-pointer by Gabrielle Bradley with 8:25 remaining in the third quarter.

Garcia, Clark, Daija Mitchell, and Antronea Jackson plugged away at the margin and combined on a 20-12, 5:08 stretch to tie the game at 54-54. The lead was traded four times over the final 3:17 of the quarter, and ended with a 63-63 tie that carried into the fourth quarter.

Temple had a six-point lead with 56.6 seconds to play when the Rams went on a 7-0 run with Destiny Lewis having drained a three-pointer and Danielle Bennett hitting a pair of field goals to put SWCC up 84-83 with nine seconds left in regulation.

Chyna Nixon was fouled on a drive with six seconds to play. Nixon missed the first shot, but converted the second to tie the game at 84-84.

The Temple defense locked down the attempt for the Rams to attempt a game-winning basket, as they forced a turnover with a second to play and forced the game into an overtime session.

Clark's drive into the lane gave Temple the first lead of overtime 42 seconds in, which was answered by a Lewis basket 18 seconds after.

The Rams opened a five-point lead with 2:25 left in the first overtime when the Leopards pounced back with a three-pointer by Lasalle and field goal by Mitchell to tie game at 93-93 with 54 seconds to go.

SWCC had three second-chance attempts in the waning moments, but could not convert. Mitchell and Clark missed on their attempts to end the game, as the contest went to a second overtime.

Gracie Oma started the second extra session with a basket in the paint, as the score started an 10-4 run over the first 3:51.

Clark, Lasalle, and Nixon combined on a 6-0 run over a 52-second span to re-tie the game at 103-103 with 17 seconds to go in the second overtime.

The Rams could not get the winning shot away, as the game went into a third overtime.

Both teams traded baskets before Nixon fed Clark with a pass in the lane that she deposited in the basket to give Temple a 108-106 lead with 3:36 left.

The Leopards led by four twice in the final overtime and had a 112-108 advantage when the Rams pushed back with a three-point play by Kenya Palmer-Taylor.

Ke'Myreul Wheaton's field goal with 32 seconds to go iced the game away for the Leopards.

Temple weathered the storm not only from the Rams, but foul issues in the fourth quarter and three overtimes pared the Leopards down to five players at the finish.

The Leopards shot 11 three-pointers and converted 19-of-31 free-throws.

Garcia finished with 29 points to lead the Leopards having fouled out with 1:16 to play in regulation. Jackson scored 21, Clark and Lasalle each chipped in 15, and Mitchell poured in 14.

The Rams drained seven three-pointers and converted 23-of-41 tries from the charity stripe.

Bennett led all scorers with 31 points, Lewis added 26, and Andrielle Johnson chipped in 19.

The 114 points was the highest of the season so far for the Leopards, having surpassed their 91 points against Palo Alto College on the opening night of the season on Nov. 1, 2025.

It is the first time over 100 points since TC beat SWCC on Feb. 26, 2025, 109-57, and the most since the Leopards beat Holy Patriot University 125-39 on Nov. 2, 2022.

The Leopards get some needed rest before taking on McLennan Community College in the final home game of the season on Wednesday at Kirby Johnson Court.