TOWSON, Md. – This weekend the Towson University women's basketball team returns to action with a trip to Harrisonburg, Virginia to open the second half of conference play.
 
Sunday's game at James Madison tips at 2 p.m. at the Convocation Center located on the Dukes' campus and will be broadcast on FloSports. Live stats will be available on JMUSports.com.
 
Last Time Out
The Tigers are coming off a tough road weekend, falling to both Drexel and Delaware in rematches of the CAA Quarterfinal and CAA Championship game from 2019. Sunday Towson dropped a 69-62 loss to the Blue Hens, led by Kionna Jeter with 28 points.
 
Scouting the Tigers
Continuing to lead the Black and Gold is Kionna Jeter averaging 19.1 points per game. Nukiya Mayo is right there with 15.8 points a night and Q. Murray rounds out the double-figure scorers with 11.1 on average. Mayo leads the team on the glass with 7.9 rebounds per game while Murray holds the assist lead averaging 5.1. Towson enters the week with a 10-10 mark and 5-4 in conference play. Currently the Tigers are tied for third in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) with William & Mary.
 
Scouting the Dukes
James Madison is also coming off a road loss after dropping a 70-48 loss against Drexel on Sunday afternoon. The Dukes are currently second in the conference with an overall record of 16-4 and conference mark of 7-2. Kamiah Smalls leads JMU offensively with 18.4 points per game while Jackie Benitez averages 12.9. Kayla Cooper-Williams, who has only appeared in 15 games this season, leads the CAA and James Madison in rebounds with an average of 10.3, she also leads the league in blocked shots.
 
Last Time Against JMU
The second game of a six-game winning streak that Towson held in the last few weeks, Towson defeated James Madison for the first time since 2017 on January 12 at home. Led by Kionna Jeter with a game-winner and 27 points, and 23 from Nukiya Mayo, the Tigers won in the final seconds, a 76-75 victory. At halftime Towson led 45-43 and James Madison returned to take a three-point lead with 4:32 remaining in the game. Coming down to the wire it was tied 73-73 with 1:03 to go. With 9.9 to go Towson took a one-point lead on a free throw. JMU responded with two foul shots and led by one. With 6.1 on the clock, Jeter caught the ball on an inbound pass and scored the game-winning layup, Kamiah Smalls missed a jumper on the other end as time ran out.
 
The JMU Series
This weekend will be the 51^st meeting between these rivals. The Dukes lead the series 44-6 and have won five of the last eight meetings. In Harrisonburg, Towson is 1-21 overall. Last year's game on JMU's home court went into overtime and the Dukes pulled away for the win.
 
Tigers in CAA Stats
Kionna Jeter is currently second in the CAA in scoring (19.1 ppg) while Nukiya Mayo holds sixth (15.8) the duo are averaging 34.9 points per game together, the second-best scoring partners in the conference behind William & Mary's Eva Hodgson and Victoria Reynolds. The scoring tandem also appear in the rebounding top-10, Mayo fifth (7.9 rpg) and Jeter seventh (6.7 rpg). Q. Murray leads the conference in assists (5.1 per game) and is first in assist/turnover ratio (2.2). Mayo is ranked for a third time in blocked shots, she is fourth in the CAA (1.5 bpg) and Ryan Holder is second (1.7 bpg).Jeter leads the league in steals (3.2 spg).
 
Jeter Ranked 26th Nationally in Points Per Game
Last season Kionna Jeter reached a peak in the top-10 of scorers nationally. Her highest position this season, the redshirt junior is 26th in points per game (19.1) as of Feb. 4. She is also 12th in steals per game (3.15 avg.), 15th in steals (63) and 13th in field goal attempts (354). Q. Murray holds it down on the assist category, she is currently 38th in assists per game (5.1), 41st in assist/turnover ratio (2.15) and 44th in assists (101). Nukiya Mayo is currently 48th nationally in double-doubles with eight this season.
 
Towson participating in #Play4Kay National Free Throw Challenge
On Feb. 14 the Tigers will host their annual Pink Game. This year Towson is partnering with Play4Kay to support cancer survivors and those battling cancer. The National Free Throw Challenge continues through the end of February. To make a pledge supporting Towson please click here: https://pledgeit.org/towson-play4kay
 
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.