Towson girls basketball coach Rebecca Cahall knew before the season that she would have a lot of new faces and she would have to figure out who will fit the best at each position.
In the first two games of the season, Cahall started two different lineups and the results were drastically different.
Against Hereford, in the opener, the Generals were beaten soundly, 53-29,
“They were big and tall and they could all shoot,” Cahall said.
But, Towson bounced back and defeated Owings Mills, 66-18, three days later.
In that victory, the Generals scored the first 33 points of the game and had a 44-8 lead at halftime.
Junior Erin Steinberg, a transfer from St. Paul’s School for Girls, led the team in scoring with 12 points.
Senior Daija Fitchett, a tri-captain, along with classmates Kayla Sullivan and Audra Lucas, liked that the Generals reached their goal of getting all 13 players on the roster in the scorebook.
“One of our goals was for everyone to score, which we did, and everyone got a rebound as well,” said Fitchett, who scored seven points in the win.
Junior guard Bernadette Brezinski came off the bench and scored eight points.
Fitchett and Lucas are the only returning starters back from last year’s 16-4 squad that was led by senior scoring leader Emmey German.
German, a two-time All-County selection and four-year varsity starter, is currently playing basketball at St. Mary’s University.
“We have a whole new team,” said Cahall, who likes the team’s chemistry. “They all get along and they are not ball hogs.”
Sullivan, who started along with Steinberg, Fitchett and Audra and sophomore Anna Lucas, also likes the team’s unity.
“We all work well together and we are all friends,” Sullivan said.
Audra and Anna Lucas are more than just friends — they are sisters.
It’s the second straight year they have played together for the Generals.
“It’s really fun,” Audra Lucas said. “I always kind of know where she is going to be on the court. It’s fun to play with her and I’m happy I could.”
Besides the three senior captains, Grace Ambrose and Danyelle Cole are the only other seniors on the roster.
Senior Lucas has been impressed by the younger players that includes juniors Steinberg, Brezinski, Sara Gahagan, Elisabeth Swift, Shyasia Anderson, Rebecca Grim, Madelyn Duncan and Caroline Ready.
“We are young, but we are working together and we work really hard at practice,” Audra Lucas said. “We’ve had a lot of good practices and I’m really excited to see where it goes from there.”
Cahall also enjoyed the energy on the bench when they defeated Owings Mills on Dec. 8.
“They all cheer each other on and they all pick each other up,” said Cahall, admittedly impressed by the way some of her reserves played against the Eagles.
“We have a bench,” Cahall said.
That makes it harder to settle on a set starting lineup, but that could be a positive sign.
“I’m trying to figure that [starting lineup] out,” Cahall said.