TOWSON, Md.  – The Towson University women's basketball team fell to Saint Francis (Pa.) on Tuesday afternoon, 78-69.
 
To wrap up the non-conference the Tigers stand at 5-2 and will return to action on Sunday, Jan. 3 at 2 p.m. Against Saint Francis, Kionna Jeter led Towson with 19 points while Shavonne Smith dropped 17. Aleah Nelson and Allie Kubek chipped in 11 and 10 apiece, respectively.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The start of the game put Towson at a 2-0 lead before the ball was even tipped, after a pre-game technical from the Red Flash and Jeter went to the line making both free throw attempts.
• As the first quarter got underway, the lead changed three times as Saint Francis responded to all of the Tigers' scoring and took the lead with 5:44 to go in the period.
• SFU's Lili Benzel scored the 11th point putting the road team up by three, then retained the lead the rest of the quarter. At the end of one, Saint Francis led 24-18.
• Neither team found the hoops in the first two-and-a-half minutes in the second quarter until Smith broke the silence with a layup and cut the lead to four.
• Both teams continued to battle on each end as Jeter and Smith scored to make it a one-point game. With 4:29 to go in the half, Aleah Nelson went to the line and made two free throws, taking the lead.
• Saint Francis' Benzel responded and took the lead back. The Red Flash went on a 15-0 run to lead by 12 points with 1:15 on the clock.
• Skye Williams scored the final bucket of the half, her layup made it a 10-point game entering the locker room as SFU led 42-32.
• Towson won the third quarter 18-17, but those 18 points were not enough to overcome the point deficit as the Red Flash maintained at least a nine-point lead throughout the period.
• Entering the fourth period, the road team led 59-50.
• Smith once again cut the lead starting the last quarter, making it a seven-point game. After a pair of free throws from SFU, Nelson drained a three and cut the lead to six.
• Both teams again struggled to find the basket and several fouls were called sending Saint Francis to the line eight more times the rest of the quarter.
• With 28 seconds to go, Towson cut the lead back down to seven, the closest the Tigers would get to closing the gap. 

BEYOND THE BOX

• With her 19 points today, Kionna Jeter has now taken seventh in the all-time program scoring list. She has 1,270 points.
• Today's 19-point performance was also Jeter's 15th consecutive game in double-figure scoring dating back to February of 2020.
• Shavonne Smith has scored at least 10 in every game this season now and played a career-high 33 minutes today.
• Aleah Nelson also had her seventh-straight game in double-figures and notched her fourth game this year with at least seven assists.
• Allie Kubek's 10 points earned her fifth game this year with at least 10 points. Her 5-of-9 shooting recorded her sixth game with at least a 50-percent mark on field goal percentage. 

LOOKING AHEAD
The Tigers will take a break for the holidays and return to action the first weekend of January 2021 to start Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play, opening against JMU.