CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's basketball team erased a 16-point deficit in the third quarter before eventually falling 77-61 to Colonial Athletic Association leading Towson on Friday evening. Darien Huff led the Cougars with 19 points, Deja Ford earning a second career double-double after finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds.   
 
Arynn Eady got the Cougars first bucket with a strong finish under the basket, the Tigers racing into a ten-point lead after four straight Charleston turnovers at the midway point of the first quarter.

A 6-0 offensive run by Charleston, capped by Ericka Broughton's mid-range jumper, was finally halted by the Tigers with a three in-front of the Charleston bench.

Madison Taylor got the first Cougars bucket of the second quarter with Charleston's first three of the game, the Tigers continuing to stay hot with a 10-0 run to push the lead to 16.

The Cougars came out the second half with a response, Bri Sullivan grabbing two quick layups to hit 250 career points, Collins knocking down a three to pull the Cougars within nine points.

The Cougars then got a defensive stop on one end, Huff hitting a three from the top of the key at the other to cut the lead to six, the senior hitting at least one three pointer for the 21^st straight game.

Charleston continued to stay red hot in the third, Deja Ford finding space in the corner to hit the third three-pointer of the quarter and cut the lead to three.
 
The buckets kept falling for the hosts; Ford and Huff combining on back-to-back baskets from deep to give Charleston their first lead of the game at 49-48 and complete the 16-point comeback.

Towson responded at the halfway point of the fourth, forcing five straight Charleston turnovers alongside a 14-0 run to retake the lead at 66-54.

Charleston never got close again with Kionna Jeter and Qierra Murray icing the game from the free-throw line to give Towson the 77-61 victory.

Charleston now looks to Sunday's matchup inside TD Arena against the other joint-conference leaders in James Madison. The Dukes and the Cougars tip-off at 2 p.m. live on the Charleston Sports Network.

Quotable – Head Coach Candice M. Jackson
"I think we played a really good 30 minutes, the first half we played well just the shots weren't falling... That third quarter we really woke up, our defense generated a lot of offense for us... In that fourth quarter we had some really costly turnovers that they converted on... Kudos to that [Towson] upperclassman group... We forced just as many turnovers as we had, rebounds were pretty balanced, we really just have to take care of the ball and score a little more."

Notables
• Darien Huff hit a three-pointer for the 21^st straight game; her streak is up to 21 games dating back to Feb. 18, 2018
• Huff led all Cougars with 19 points, Deja Ford and Ericka Broughton both adding 10 each
• Deja Ford earned a second career double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds to go with her 10 points.
• Bri Sullivan hit 250 career points.