TOWSON, Md. – A three-game road swing concludes for the Towson University women's basketball team on Saturday at Longwood. The Tigers will face the Lancers at 3 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
Towson enters the game 2-1 after a loss at No. 14 Maryland and Longwood sits at 0-3, coming off a 77-65 loss at George Mason on Monday.
LAST TIME OUT
A quick turnaround for the Tigers, coming off a Thursday night loss to the Terps, but showing promise after hanging around with the top-14 team in the country.
Kionna Jeter scored the first bucket of the game but the Terrapins took a strong lead in the first, ending the period up 30-14.
Allie Kubek scored early in the second quarter as the Tigers fought to close the gap but Maryland's Katie Benzan started a 9-0 run that lasted for more than two minutes. More of Towson's effort came from
Tess Borgosz and
Bianca Glover cutting the lead but the road team still trailed 55-30 entering the locker room at half. Jeter spurred more life into the Tigers with 20 points, by herself, in the third quarter. Defense showed up as well and with eight minutes to go, Towson had cut the lead to just 13 points, down 80-67. A scoring stretch from the Terps put them up 90-68 with 6:17 on the clock and taking the lead out of reach.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Towson's 2-1 record comes with a scoring average of 87.3 points per game, ranked 25th nationally in scoring offense. Jeter leads the Tiger offense with 23.7 points per game, three of her teammates are averaging double figures.
Aleah Nelson is posting 14.3 a night,
Shavonne Smith averages 13.7 and
Allie Kubek averages 11 a night. Nelson leads the team in assists with six per game and Kubek leads in rebounds with seven a night. Through three games, every eligible Tiger has scored this season and as a team Towson is holding a 46.2 shooting percentage from the field. As a team, Towson is ranked 33rd in rebounding with 43.3 a game and is third in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in scoring.
THE LONGWOOD SERIES (TOWSON LEADS 2-0)
Towson and Longwood haven't met in women's hoops action since the 1987-88 season. The Tigers have won both previous meetings, the last one at home with an 82-71 victory.
SCOUTING LONGWOOD
The Lancers haven't won one yet but had a close matchup against East Tennessee State last weekend, falling 62-56. Leading the offense is Kyla McMakin with 15.3 points per game, and three more players are averaging at least 10 a night. Akila Smith is posting 13 points per game, Tra'Dayja Smith averages 12 and Anne-Hamilton Leroy is scoring 12.3. Longwood has plenty of experience on the court with four seniors and two juniors. Last season the Lancers finished with a 12-18 overall record and went 8-12 in Big South action. In the 2019-20 campaign, Longwood defeated UNCW, Brown, Delaware State and Maryland Eastern Shore but fell to Florida, James Madison, Wofford, East Carolina and Norfolk State in non-conference play.
GUARD CONNECTIONS
With seven new faces on the court this year the Tigers have started to establish their scoring core. Currently the three starting guards of
Kionna Jeter,
Aleah Nelson and
Shavonne Smith are combining to average 51.6 of Towson's points each night. Jeter leads the pack, but Nelson's six assists per night and the trio averaging 13.6 rebounds per game has a strong impact on pushing the offense to make those scores.
BOARD WOMEN WORKING THE GLASS
After the graduation of
Nukiya Mayo who led the team in rebounding for three straight years, freshman
Allie Kubek has taken place as the leading board-grabber currently averaging seven a game. Her and senior
LaKaitlin Wright are combining for 20 rebounds a night as the team averages 43.3 overall.
JETER'S CLIMB TO HISTORY
Kionna Jeter became the player to score 1,000 points the fastest in program history last season. Currently she is one layup, or two free throws, away from entering the top-10 list for most career points. The Spartanburg, South Carolina native has 1,169 career points and will likely enter the top bracket this weekend. Jeter was named the CAA Player of the Week for Nov. 30, the first weekly award of the year, after receiving two preseason accolades. She's second in the CAA in scoring and 28th in the nation in points per game with 23.7.
BACK HOME FOR THREE MORE
After this road swing concludes, the Tigers will return home for the final three games of the non-conference slate. Towson added a game on Friday, Dec. 18 at home against Salem University, that is the next scheduled game for the Tigers.
