By Timothy Dashiell
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

There are limits to what a team can learn about itself from a scrimmage. Especially one in which the team is far superior to its opponent, which was the case for the Towson women’s basketball team on Thursday night.
Yet a few things became clear about the Tigers after their 75-43 win over Alderson Broaddus at SECU Arena. Here’s a look at some of the main takeaways.
- Guards, guards and more guards. Multiple guards should see some significant time for the defending CAA champions. Usual suspects Q. Murray and Kionna “Melo” Jeter will be backcourt leaders for Towson. Expect key contributions from junior Rayna Barbour, sophomore Shavonne “Scoop” Smith and senior Ryan Holder, who all saw lots of time during Thursday’s scrimmage.
- The Tigers need someone to step up in the frontcourt. Two of last season’s most productive frontcourt players are no longer with the program following the graduation of Maia Lee and the departure of Janeen Camp (now with Costal Carolina). With them goes a combined 11.6 rebounds per game as well as two of the nine Tigers who averaged more than 10 minutes per game. This year’s team will need to find players who can be just as reliable and productive to solidify their frontcourt.
- Jeter and Murray will run the show. Last season, point guard Q. Murray set the Towson single-season record with 147 assists. She’s been on record saying she wants to break that mark this season. But she will be sharing the ball often with backcourt mate Kionna Jeter, who scored at least 20 points 14 times last year also showed some passing skills during the scrimmage with some sick no-look passes.
- Pressure on defense will be a priority. During the scrimmage, Towson relied on a tough defense filled with pressure on ball handlers forcing many turnovers in the process. Coach Diane Richardson said that was no accident. “Our goal going in was to put pressure on them defensively, we were able to do that tonight and get some steals.” Expect the Tigers to apply that type of pressure throughout the season.
- A tough non-conference schedule should pay off come March. Towson’s schedule gets tougher in hurry. The Tigers play three teams from the Big Ten (Penn State on Tuesday; Iowa on Nov. 28; Rutgers on Dec. 8). Towson, projected to finish third in the CAA, is challenging itself early on to ready itself to defend the conference title. “The CAA is a tough conference top to bottom,” Richardson said. “We want to test ourselves early so that we’re ready to battle before the conference run starts.”