Junior Dominique Johnson continued her torrid scoring streak with 22 points to lead the Towson women’s basketball team to a 53-51 win over Rider on Friday evening on the first day of WNIT consolation bracket action at SECU Arena.
The Tigers will now face the University of North Dakota (UND) on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 6:30 p.m. North Dakota defeated St. Francis Brooklyn in the first game on Friday evening.
Junior Dominique Johnson (1) led Towson to the win over Rider Friday night at SECU Arena. (Photo courtesy of Kanji Takeno)
Johnson was seven-for-18 on the evening with four rebounds in the Tigers’ 2014-15 home opener. Seniors LaTorri Hines-Allen and Markell Smith each added identical double-doubles of 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Hines-Allen tallied four blocks.
The Tigers got off to a slow start, but good defense gave Towson the possessions it needed to move ahead of Rider, 16-13, at 11:07 in the first half. The game was tightly contested throughout the half and featured four ties. Rider led by just one, 26-25, at the break.
Johnson made two of her five three-pointers in the first three minutes of the second half to give Towson a 33-30 lead with 16:27 to go in the game. She has 96 career triples and needs just four more to become the eighth player in Towson history to make 100 or more career threes.
With the game tied 49-49, Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and sunk a layup to give the Tigers a 51-49 lead. The visiting Broncs scored on a layup with 1:13 left to tie the game for the 10th time, 51-51. After Towson committed a free throw violation, Johnson took a charge with 42.7 seconds left to get possession back for the Tigers. A 10-foot jumper by Hines-Allen with 27.6 seconds left gave Towson the edge it needed for the win.
The Broncs missed a jumper on the right side with 17 seconds left; Smith snagged the rebound and was fouled. She missed the front end of a one-and-one, but the Tigers’ defense again stepped up. Freshman Breonn Hughey tipped a Rider pass out-of-bounds, and the Broncs’ last-second jumper missed the mark.
With the win, Towson improves to 8-3 in their last 11 home-openers and 4-2 in the last six.
