TOWSON, Md. ? The Towson basketball team jumped out to a 23 point lead at the half and defeated Davidson 76-58 in its home opener on Saturday night. The Tigers improve to 2-0 to start the season for the third straight year.
Up 4-3 early in the first half, Towson connected on seven of the next eight points to grab an 11-4 advantage with 16:14 to play in the half. Junior Shanae Baker-Brice scored five of the Tigers' seven during that stretch, including a three-point basket. The two teams traded baskets over the next couple of minutes before a lay-up by Julia Paquette at 9:24 cut the Wildcat deficit to 14-10. Towson responded by outscoring Davidson 12-4 over the next three minutes to open up a 26-14 lead with 5:57 to play in the half. The two teams continued to connect on baskets over the next couple of minutes with a good free throw by Ashley Lax at 4:24 making it a 31-21 game. That 10-point deficit would be as close as the Wildcats would get before the break. Towson would score 14 of the final 15 points in the half including two big treys by sophomore Simona Petronyte.
Towson shot 51.5% in the first half to Davidson's 27.3%. The Tigers also had 14 first-half steals and forced 21 Wildcat turnovers in the first 20 minutes of action.
The Wildcats came out battling to start the second half and opened the stanza on a 13-2 run to make it a 47-35 game with 12:52 to play. Mandy Halbersleben had five of the Wildcats' 12 while Monica Laune contributed six during that stretch. Towson responded with a 9-0 run of its own to increase its lead to 56-35 with 10:32 to play. Sophomore Omara Parker knocked down six of the Tigers' nine to help increase the lead. The two teams continued to battle over the next couple of minutes as the pace of play picked up with both teams running the floor well. Petronyte hit a free throw at 4:23 to make it a 26-point lead at 71-45. The two teams continued to battle over the final four and a half minutes as Alex Thompson hit a three-pointer with 20 seconds remaining to make the final 76-58.
Towson finished the game shooting 43.5% from the floor and 72% from the foul line. The Tigers recorded 22 steals in the contest and forced 34 Davidson turnovers. The Wildcats shot 34% from the field for the game.
All 14 Tigers saw action in the game with three players reaching double digits in the scoring column. Baker-Brice led all players with 18 points while adding five assists and only one turnover in 29 minutes of action. Petronyte knocked down a career-high 16 points and added three steals while Parker finished with 13 tallies. Junior Katrina Wheeler pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and added nine points and five steals.
Davidson was led by Lax's 16 points and five rebounds. Halbersleben and Kristen Johnsen tied for the team lead in rebounds with six apiece. Halbersleben would also add nine points on the night.
The Tigers return to action on Tuesday, November 25 when they host Radford at 7 p.m.
