Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell

Boxscore

TOWSON, Md. - The University of Delaware women’s basketball team could not overcome a slow first half as the Blue Hens dropped a 56-45 decision to Colonial Athletic Association rival Towson University on Sunday afternoon at the Towson Center.

Delaware (18-10, 10-7 CAA) and Towson (14-14, 8-9 CAA) each tallied 29 points in the second frame, but a poor first half for the Blue Hens led to their first setback to a lower-ranked team all season.

Playing without freshman All-American candidate Elena Delle Donne, Delaware scored 16 first-half points, the lowest since the Hens’ tallied just 10 against Colorado State, also without Delle Donne, on Nov. 28.

Turnovers and poor shooting percentages riddled the first frame. Delaware had 15 turnovers and Towson 11 at the break and the teams shot a combined 15-52 from the floor. The Tigers tallied 10 points on Delaware turnovers, while the Hens had not one off of a Towson mistake. Towson also outdid the Blue Hens at the foul line, connecting on 8-of-9, while Delaware hit just 3-of-9.

Towson got off to a strong 6-0 start and Delaware never caught up. Having cut the Tigers’ lead to just one at 4:41, Delaware looked to be back in the action, but Towson went on to score nine unanswered to lead by 10 at the 2:18 mark before closing out the half with a dominating 11-point lead.

In the second period the Hens battled what turned into a 19-point deficit at the nine-minute mark to bring the game back within seven on three occasions, but Delaware’s spark came too late. UD tallied 12 back-to-back points to cut the lead to seven at 4:42, but the teams would exchange buckets the rest of the way to secure the Towson victory.

Senior forward Katrina Wheeler led the game with a career-high 18 rebounds and added 10 points good for her fourth double-double of 2009-10, while senior forward Haliena Snowden and senior guard Shanae Baker-Brice also broke double-figures for the Tigers with 13 and 12, respectively. Snowden added nine rebounds for the Cats, while Baker-Brice dished out a game-high five assists.

Junior guard Tesia Harris (top right) led UD for the second-straight game with 11 points, four assists and six rebounds and freshman forward Danielle Parker chipped in seven points and a team-high nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Jocelyn Bailey (bottom left) added nine points and six rebounds for the Hens, while freshman guard Lauren Carra collected seven points for the Blue and Gold.

Towson jumped out to a 6-0 start as Delaware was held scoreless for the opening 5:50. Harris went to the line at 14:10 to notch the Hens’ first points of the game. Wheeler gathered a bucket down low to reinstate a six-point advantage before sophomore center Jasmine Gibson capitalized on an assist from freshman Jaquetta May at 11:35, bringing the score to 8-4.

May hit the back-end of a pair at the charity stripe before Towson drained five consecutive to lead 13-5 at 8:34. Delaware answered with seven of their own as Parker tallied a layup prior to Harris draining a three, the Hens’ only of the half, to bring the game to 13-10. A layup by Bailey brought then Hens within one, but Towson went on to collect nine unanswered to take a double-digit lead at 2:18.

Gibson pulled down an offensive rebound and notched the put-back at 1:47, but senior forward Kandace Davis went 2-for-2 from the line to again lead by 10, 24-14. Harris and Snowden exchanged baskets, but it was a Wheeler free throw that gave the Tigers their largest lead of the game at the 29-second mark. Towson took a commanding 11-point, 27-16, lead into the locker room at intermission.

UD sophomore guard Kayla Miller banked in a jumper on a Harris assist to open the second stint before Baker-Brice swished a three and drove right for a layup. Wheeler extended the Tigers’ cushion to 18 with a pair of buckets. Bailey then hit the second of two free throws and UD got a Parker jumper to bring the game to 36-21. A Towson free throw and layup brought the game back to an 18-point spread, before Parker and Harris combined to hit three from the foul line.

Towson gathered a baseline jumper at 12:27 but Gibson responded and again pulled-down an offensive board and recorded a layup from the right block for the Hens. Miller then drained two from the charity stripe but Baker-Brice did just the same and Davis hit a jumper to bring the score to 45-28 at 10:11.

A Delaware turnover led to a fast break Snowden layup, but UD responded as Carra made good on two from the line. Harris then brought the game within 15 with a layup at 8:05. The Hens continued their 12-0 streak with a Bailey baseline jumper at 7:03. Parker then banked in a jumper in the lane to bring the game to 47-36, before Bailey sunk a field goal to cut the deficit to nine. Bailey took to the line at 4:42 in a one-and-one situation and brought the Hens within seven by draining both.

The solid UD run came to an end with a traditional three-point play by Snowden, but Carra reversed it with a downtown three at 4:10. Baker-Brice then recorded two from the line before Carra drove low for a layup, again making it a seven-point spread, but that was as close as the Hens would come.

After a scramble under the Towson basket, junior guard Jaleesa Dryver notched a basket. In Hens’ territory a Carra three bounced around the rim and a Tiger pulled down the rebound forcing Delaware to foul. Baker-Brice hit the front-end of two from the line to extend the lead to 10, 55-45, with 54 seconds on the clock and Towson sunk another free throw at the 30-second mark to close out all scoring at 56-45.

Delaware finished the game shooting season-lows of thirty percent from the floor and 18.2 percent from beyond the arc, while Towson hit 40.4 and 25.0 percent, respectively. The Tigers also bettered the Hens at the foul line outshooting UD, 76.2 percent to 61.9 percent.

Delaware will return to the Bob Carpenter Center to face Hofstra University on senior night, Wednesday, March 3 at 7 p.m., in its regular-season finale.

AGATE:

Delaware.........16.....29........45
Towson...........27.....29........56

Delaware (18-10, 10-7 CAA)
Parker 3-7 1-4 7, Gibson 3-5 0-0 6, Bailey 3-11 3-5 9, Miller 1-3 2-2 4, Harris 3-16 4-4 11, May 0-1 1-2 1, Riddick 0-0 0-0 0, Carra 2-6 2-4 7, Jenkins 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 15-50 13-21 45.

Towson (14-14, 8-9 CAA)
Wheeler 3-6 4-7 10, Snowden 6-10 1-1 13, Keown 1-1 0-0 2, Davis 2-3 3-3 7, Baker-Brice 3-11 5-6 12, Haywood 1-2 2-2 4, Watt 0-4 1-2 1, Miliauskaite 0-0 0-0 0, Dryver 2-5 0-0 4, Petronyte 1-5 0-0 3, Kennedy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-47 16-21 56.

Halftime: Delaware 16, Towson 27; Three-Point Field Goals: DEL 2-11 (Harris, Carra - 1), TOW 2-8 (Braker-Brice, Petronyte - 1); Rebounds: DEL - 32 (Parker, 9), TOW - 39 (Wheeler, 18); Assists: DEL - 8 (Harris, 4), TOW - 11 (Baker-Brice, 5); Fouled Out: None; Fouls: DEL - 20, TOW - 15; Attendance: 1,016.