SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Thanksgiving holiday holds opportunity for the Towson University women's basketball team as the Tigers participate in the Puerto Rico Clasicó in San Juan.
 
Towson is slated to face Iowa on Thanksgiving at 1 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time and Iona on Friday at 3:30 p.m. AST. Puerto Rico does not participate in daylight savings time, the game times are one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time.
 
Both games in San Juan will be broadcast on FloSports.com, links for streaming can be found on the women's basketball schedule page of TowsonTigers.com.
 
Last Time Out
The Tigers are coming off their second win of the season over American at home on Sunday. Towson was led by sophomore Myasia Jones for the second straight game with 17 points. Redshirt-junior Kionna Jeter dropped 16 while Q. Murray scored 14 and Nukiya Mayo led the team in rebounds with eight. The Tigers shot 37.5 percent from the field and saw 16 points off turnovers as they sealed the win.
 
Scouting the Tigers
Towson enters the Thanksgiving tournament 2-3 with wins over Mount St. Mary's and American. Leading the Tigers offensively is Kionna Jeter with 16.2 points per game. Three more members of the Black and Gold are averaging double figures with Nukiya Mayo posting 15.6 points per game, Q. Murray averaging 11.0 and Myasia Jones with 10.8. Mayo continues to lead Towson on the glass with 8.2 rebounds per game while Jeter holds the team high in steals with 2.8 per game and Murray averages 4.6 assists leading the squad.
 
Scouting the Hawkeyes
Iowa comes to San Juan with a 3-1 record and will face Cincinnati today before playing the Tigers tomorrow. The Hawkeyes' single loss thus far came to Northern Iowa last Sunday, an 88-66 final. Iowa most recently defeated Princeton at home by two points. Kathleen Doyle leads the Hawkeyes with 16.3 points per game while Makenzie Meyer averages 15.3 points and Monika Czinano averages 12.0. Amanda Ollinger is averaging 8.3 rebounds a game and Doyle leads the team in assists with 5.8 per night. Iowa finished the 2018-19 campaign in the Elite Eight.
 
Scouting the Gaels
Iona enters the week 1-3 and will face Washington tomorrow before playing Towson on Friday. Most recently the Gaels fell to Stony Brook on the road 59-40. Leading the Iona offense is Morgan Rachu with 13.8 points per game and Shyan Mwai with 13.3. Paulla Weekes leads the Gaels in rebounds with 8 per game. Iona's lone win this season came over Winthrop in the season opener, a 68-61 victory. The Gaels have a young roster with two seniors and four juniors.
 
An Island Trip With New Opponents
Towson has never faced Iowa or Iona in women's basketball. Both games will be a program first meeting for all parties involved.
 
Nukiya Mayo and the Chase to 1,000
Senior Nukiya Mayo has not-so-quietly made her permanent mark on the record books and history of Towson women's basketball. In her sophomore season the Bronx, New York native recorded the eighth-most rebounds in a single year with 263. Last year the dual guard-forward player was named the CAA Championship MOP after she scored 22 points to lead Towson to its first program CAA title. Mayo has tallied 982 points through Sunday's game and is looking at the 1,000 mark with still the entire conference slate ahead.
 
Tigers in the Community
The Towson University athletics department deems community service as one of its highest priorities to give back to the Greater Baltimore area. For the seventh consecutive year, the department exceeded 10,000 hours of community service to the Greater Baltimore region, finishing with 11,162 hours of community service in the 2018-19 academic season. Towson ranked No. 1 nationally for community service and won the 2018 National Championship for Community Service through the Helper Helper NCAA Team Works Competition. Towson had a 97% participation rate, attended 118 community service opportunities and volunteered with 19 organizations. Towson won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.
 
Looking Ahead
After the holiday tournament the Tigers return home for the annual STEM Day game on Wednesday, Dec. 4 against Temple and travel to Rutgers for a game next Sunday.