TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University women's basketball team hits the road for its first trip of the 2020-21 season tomorrow, heading to face La Salle at 4 p.m.
 
The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats are available on GoExplorers.com.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Towson is coming off a strong victory in Wednesday's season opener over East Carolina where the Tigers won 89-81. It was the first opening win since the beginning of the 2016-17 season. Redshirt-senior Kionna Jeter led the way with 27 points and 12 rebounds notching her first double-double of the year. The Tigers got off to a slow start trailing 22-16 at the end of the first quarter. In the second period the offense struck up, leading by as much as 12 before entering the locker room at halftime. Free throws and scoring from LaKaitlin Wright, Aleah Nelson and Shavonne Smith helped push the Tigers through to the end, after ECU had cut the lead and tied the game several times, sealing the win. Nelson and Smith both scored 13 points apiece in the contest.
 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
With win No. 1 under their belt the Tigers have shown their on-court chemistry with more than half of a new team this year. Seven new faces joined the roster in the off-season as Towson lost three starters to graduation and a big portion of its scoring in Nukiya Mayo as part of that graduating class. On Wednesday almost everyone saw the court, with rookie Tarriyonna Gary coming off the bench for 17 minutes where she scored seven points and grabbed three rebounds. Newcomers Aleah Nelson and Allie Kubek earned their first start and showed promise, combining for 20 points and five rebounds while Nelson dished out five assists. Junior Shavonne Smith is sure to be a key guard on the floor this season; she started on Wednesday and scored 13 points with three rebounds two assists and a steal. The Tigers sacrificed several turnovers in the season opener but held the Pirates to 38.8 shooting from the field while shooting 44.4 percent from the floor and 43.8 shooting from beyond the arc.
 
THE LA SALLE SERIES (LA SALLE LEADS 4-1)
Monday's game was added to the schedule recently as the 2020-21 campaign continues to have shifts and changes. The Explorers lead the series 4-2, but in the last meeting of these teams the Tigers came out on top. La Salle hasn't hosted the series matchup in several years; in 2018 Towson hosted the Explorers and the meeting prior in 2014 was in Brooklyn. The Tigers took their first win in the series in 1980.
 
SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS
Monday is the season opener for La Salle, coming off a 13-17 mark in the 2019-20 campaign. The Explorers averaged 61.4 points per game while holding their opponents to 65.4 points per game. Leading scorer Claire Jacobs out of Perth, Australia returns for her sophomore season; last year she averaged 13.7 points. The Explorers have plenty of experience returning to the floor with three seniors and two juniors, including senior guard Kate Hill who led the team in assists last season with 127 total. Last season La Salle saw both wins and losses in the non-conference slate with victories over Howard, Harvard, Penn State and UMBC, but losses to Drexel, Temple, Penn and Rider. In Atlantic 10 play the Explorers finished 7-9 and lost to Davidson in the first round of the conference tournament. Head coach Mountain MacGillivray has led La Salle since 2018.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST LA SALLE
Back in 2018 the Tigers saw three players score in double figures with Kionna Jeter scoring her career high, to this date, 32 points. Nukiya Mayo recorded a double-double, 22 points and 11 rebounds, and Q. Murray scored 13 points. The first quarter was close, with a 15-14 lead for Towson after 10 minutes of action. In the second period the offense picked up as Mayo scored five-straight points to put the Tigers up by eight points. The home team extended all the way to a 17-point advantage, but the Explorers cut it down to seven entering the half. With nine minutes left in the third period the Explorers were within nine points of tying it up but that was as close as they would come. Towson went on an 8-0 run in the middle of the fourth and reached a peak 24-point lead to seal the win.
 
JETER CONTINUES TO CLIMB
Last season Kionna Jeter became the fastest player in program history to score 1,000 points. After the season opener, the Spartanburg, South Carolina native has 1,125 career points, she is just outside of the top 10 in program scorers. If she reaches 1,172 points she will break into the top 10 and she has only played one game this season. Jeter will likely also reach the top chart of career steals, she currently has 189 and needs 193 to enter the top 10. This season has already started off on a high note for the reshirt-senior with two preseason accolades as she was the first player in program history to be named the CAA Preseason Player of the Year. Through the first week of the season she is second in the Colonial Athletic Association in scoring.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The entire week ahead for Towson is scheduled to be on the road. After Monday's trip to Philadelphia, the Tigers will head down 95 to College Park to face the Terps on Thursday at 6 p.m. and continue further south for a matchup at Longwood on Saturday afternoon.