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Tigers down Huskies for 6th straight win
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TOWSON (Map, News) - Towson University’s women’s basketball team knew in order to reach its goal of qualifying for the postseason it couldn’t afford to slip against teams it should beat.
Against Northeastern on Thursday night, the Tigers appeared ready to stumble, but railed from a halftime deficit to down the Huskies, 55-46, at Towson Center.
The Tigers, winners of six straight, were paced by sophomore Shanae Baker-Brice, who scored a team-high 12 points to go with four rebounds and three assists.
“The message at halftime was ‘we have to play harder,’” Towson coach Joe Mathews said. “We needed to make the extra effort plays and that’s what we have been doing for the past four, five games. I thought we did a much better job of that in the second half.”
Towson (10-3, 2-0 Colonial Athletic Association) struggled for the majority of the first half, which featured five ties and three lead changes, shooting just 32.1 percent from the floor and turning the ball over 12 times. But Northeastern (5-7, 0-2) had nearly as tough a time against Towson’s defense, shooting 36.7 percent, and managing just a 28-22 lead at intermission.
The 22 first-half points were a season low for the Tigers.
“We just try to keep moving up the ladder instead of down,” Baker-Brice said. “We want to start strong and finish strong.”
A Holly Mahan three-point play 45 seconds into the second half sparked a 9-0 Tigers run, capped by a Shanae Baker-Brice layup, giving the Tigers a 31-29 lead with 15:58 remaining. The Huskies finally got on the board nearly five minutes into the half when Jasmine Crew buried a 15-foot jumper, but the Tigers answered with three straight baskets to take a 37-31 lead with just under 12 minutes left.
The Tigers extended the lead to as many as 10 at 43-33 with 8:53 remaining following a layup by Omara Parker.
A three-pointer by Ashlee Feldman drew the Huskies within three at 48-45 with 2:30 remaining, but Jamell Beasley answered at the other end with a pair of free throws.
The Tigers iced the game from the free-throw line, making 5-of-7 attempts in the final 77 seconds.
Mahan finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.
“I think the team last year would have hung their head,” Mathews said. “It’s more about being competitive and wanting things to go right and we have to be good about when things don’t go right.”
