Junior Anasia Staton came off the bench to score a career-high 16 points and Kylie Kornegay-Lucas recorded a double-double with 15 points and a career-best 16 rebounds as 6th-seeded Towson knocked off 3rd-seeded Charleston, 69-60, in the final quarterfinal game of the CAA Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Primis on Friday night at the Entertainment & Sports Arena.
The Tigers (20-10) advanced to the semifinals for the third straight season, where they will face 7th-seeded Drexel at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Charleston dropped to 21-9 after the setback.
Staton made four three-pointers and surpassed her previous career high of 10 points in the first half. She contributed half of the points tallied by the Towson reserves, who outscored the Cougars’ bench, 32-3. It was the sixth double-double of the season for Korengay-Lucas, who also dished out a team-high five assists.
Charleston was led by guard Jada Logan, who poured in a game-high 24 points, including 16 in the second half. Alexis Andrews added 13 points and Taryn Barbot had 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Towson used hot shooting from the three-point line to grab a 21-19 edge after the opening quarter. The Tigers were 5-of-8 from beyond the arc with Staton knocking down three treys and Anaiah Jenkins hitting a pair. Towson maintained the momentum into the second quarter, opening with a 12-2 run that included five points from Quinzia Fulmore. The Tigers were up 38-28 at the half as Staton set a career-high with 11 points in the first 20 minutes.
The Tigers took their largest lead, 49-35, on a Kornegay-Lucas layup midway through the third quarter before Charleston made a run. The Cougars reeled off 11 unanswered points and pulled within three on a Logan layup with 1:05 remaining. However, Staton tallied five points in 28 seconds capped by a three at the buzzer to put Towson ahead 54-46.
The Cougars got as close as sixth in the fourth quarter on a Logan layup with 7:30 remaining, but Towson made 8-of-13 from the line in the final period to seal the victory.
Towson shot 43.6% from the floor for the game and hit eight treys, while Charleston shot just 29.5% and was 5-of-21 (23.8%) from beyond the arc.
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