WASHINGTON, D.C. – Derin Erdogan tallied a game-high 30 points, but the No. 6 seed Towson Tigers (19-10) used a dominant performance on the boards to knock off the No. 11 Northeastern women's basketball team (10-17), 78-69, in the CAA Tournament Second Round on Thursday night at the Sports & Entertainment Arena.
Erdogan had another sensational performance, tallying 20 of her points in the second half with five three-pointers, which tied a career high, along with five rebounds and four assists. The senior capped off her stellar Northeastern career with 856 total points in two years, averaging 15.0 points per game. Erdogan also had double-digit points in 51 games for the Huskies, 239 total assists, averaging 4.2 per game.
Deja Bristol (16 points, six rebounds), and
Yirsy Queliz (career-high 12 points, three rebounds, three assists) also headlined the Huskies with double-digit points.
As a team, Northeastern shot 53.2% overall (25-of-47) and 50% (9-of-18) from three.
Towson shot 40.5% overall (31-of-76), and just 25.0% (8-of-32) from deep, but outrebounded the Huskies 44 to 28 in the contest. Second chance points also heavily favored Towson with 20 compared to four for Northeastern.
The Tigers got off to a quick 6-2 lead in the first, but Northeastern fought back to immediately knot the score up after free throws from Bristol and a jumper by
Halle Idowu. The Tigers though, went on 5-0 run a few minutes later to take a 13-8 advantage at the 4:56 mark. Towson capitalized with 10 points off second chance opportunities in the frame, and took a 23-15 lead into the second.
Towson continued to push the pace in the second, ballooning its lead up to 29-17 at the 6:14 mark. Queliz followed with a three to trim the deficit to 29-20, but the Tigers didn't look back, dominating the Huskies on the boards with 28 rebounds compared to 15 for NU in the first half, and took a 41-28 lead into halftime.
Queliz got the Huskies started with a jumper in the third, but the Tigers responded right back with a bucket of their own. Towson continued to roll on offense, tallying six straight points to take a 50-32 lead at the 7:54 mark. The Huskies chipped away to trim the deficit down to 16 (55-39) after free throws from Bristol and Idowu, but the Tigers tallied seven straight points to ultimately take a commanding 24-point advantage into the fourth.
The Huskies came out firing from three in the fourth, as Queliz and Erdogan knocked down triples to cut in the deficit. Erdogan was unconscious in the frame, as the senior tallied 15 of her points on 6-of-9 shooting. Northeastern fought to the very end, shooting at a blistering 71.4% overall and from deep to make it an 11-point game (78-67) with 1:06 to go, but Towson held on for the win.
The Tigers move on to face No. 3 Charleston in the CAA Quarterfinals on Friday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m.
