Towson
- Feb 22, 2022
- 4 min read
Towson Tigers (19-5, 10-3) vs. Charleston Cougars (14-10, 6-7)
Sunday, February 20, 2022 @ 2:00 PM
Towson, MD
SECU Arena
THE SCHOOL
Towson University is a public university in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1866, TU enrolls 23,000 students and has an endowment of about $90 million. Towson is the second-largest school in the University System of Maryland, only behind the University of Maryland in College Park.
The Towson Tigers compete in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in NCAA Division I. TU's women's basketball team is having a great season so far. They upset Florida in their first game and have won seven of their last eight matchups in the CAA. They're currently third in their conference standings.
The College of Charleston is a public liberal arts college in Charleston, South Carolina. Officially chartered in 1785, College of Charleston repeats a theme from a couple weeks ago as it's one of the oldest colleges in the United States.
The Charleston Cougars also compete in the CAA. They beat Towson in their previous matchup this season, 88-72. The Cougar sports teams used to be known as "College of Charleston" in all contexts, but they've shortened that to "Charleston" in recent years.
THE TOWN
This is my second trip to Towson this season. My first game of the season was at Goucher College, very slightly north of where I was today. In my Goucher writeup, I mentioned how bad the traffic was; turns out, it's far better to make this drive on a Sunday afternoon. I made it to Towson in a touch over forty-five minutes.
While TU's campus is just a hop outside of Baltimore city limits, it certainly feels suburban. It's a spacious campus (covering 330 acres) with plenty of large green areas and plenty of parking spaces. From what I've heard, Towson used to be a largely commuter campus, but is increasingly residential.
SECU Arena (pronounced like "c-q"; it stands for State Employees Credit Union) is a lovely space for basketball. This state-of-the-art facility was built in 2013 and seats over 5,000 spectators (all in chairback seats). Through the front doors, you enter SECU Arena to a wide concourse that wraps around the building's interior. All seating (except a small upper deck that wasn't open today) is below the concourse and, therefore, below street level. Windows fill one entire side of the arena so light can seep through on a sunny Sunday. I haven't been to any other arenas in the CAA, but I imagine this must be one of the finest.
SECU Arena is directly beside Towson's football stadium, named after former Baltimore Colt Johnny Unitas. Likewise, Unitas Stadium is a very nice stadium for a team at the FCS level.
THE GAME
It was Autism Awareness Day at Towson. They gave out shirts, had several booths from Baltimore-area autism groups, had a sensory room reserved in the arena, and the team wore blue uniforms.
Towson has a solid environment. The stands filled in after tipoff and it ended up being a good crowd for a Sunday afternoon. I ended up sitting by several parents of band members and cheerleaders, but there was a wide swath of people there. Not many students (again - Sunday afternoon) but many families with small kids were in attendance.
Towson's pep band is the best I've seen on this project. So many small schools don't have a pep band, so I appreciate it when one appears. Towson's band was loud, energetic, and clearly had a lot of fun. Towson barely played any music over the PA because the band played so much. I think all basketball games should have a little band, and Towson's was awesome.
When I go to a game, I typically casually root for the home team. This was no different in Towson; I clapped when the Tigers played well. But I couldn't help rooting for Charleston's #32, Zoe McCrary. I don't think we're related because Zoe is a) from Texas and b) black, but I wanted her to do well. She ended the day with no points but five rebounds.
~~
Aleah Nelson was feeling it today.
The Baltimore native and Cincinnati transfer was the best player on the floor, and she made that known early. Nelson hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 total points in just the 1st quarter. However, Towson's mental errors led to multiple backcourt turnovers, which allowed Charleston to stay in the game, and even take a 20-19 lead at the quarter break. The Tigers played better in the 2nd, but the Cougars stuck around and trailed by only four points (36-32) at halftime.
With 6:49 left in the 3rd, Towson's Allie Kubeck hit a layup to give TU a 48-38 lead, the first double-digit advantage for either squad. Charleston still had a little fight, though, as Latrice Perkins led them on a run to cut the lead to 4 near the end of the quarter.
However, that was Charleston's last gasp. Towson played to their potential in the 4th and the Cougars had few answers. After gaining 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, Aleah Nelson was taken out of the game a little early to some well-deserved applause.
Final: Towson 84, Charleston 57
Immediately concluding this game, I drove into Baltimore to see another Maryland-based basketball team play, so there may be another writeup soon.
Thanks for reading.
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