THIS 'N THAT FROM HERE 'N THERE …

Some Revenge, Finally: The Tigers' 75-67 men's basketball victory over Radford in the Comfort Suites Invitational back on November 16 was as much a solid win over a former Big South Conference nemesis as it was satisfying to longtime Towson basketball fans. The Highlanders always gave the Tigers a fit when the two faced each other in the mid 90's. The series ended in a 3-3 tie with the Highlanders delivering the biggest blow. On January 7, 1995 Radford held on for a 71-68 win that stopped the Tigers' longest home victory streak in the Towson Center at 22. It took 17 years to avenge that loss.

World Cup Try: Tiger women's lacrosse coach Sonia LaMonica, the 2011 and 2012 Colonial Athletic Association's Women's Lacrosse  Coach of the Year, has been in Australia trying out for her country's National Team that will compete in the Women's World Cup to be held this summer in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada July 11-20. The Darlington, South Australia native helped the gang from down under capture gold in 2005 and silver in 2009.

Hang In There: Help is on the way for Joe Mathews and Pat Skerry.The Tiger women's team has an impact player sitting out a redshirt year in LaTorri Hines-Allen, a transfer forward from Virginia Tech where she started 26 games. A 6-1 forward LaTorri averaged 5.5 points and 6.9 rebounds for the Hokies. On the men's side, the Tigers are in need of an outside shooter. Sitting out after transferring from Vermont is sophomore Four McGlynn who was the 2011-12 America East Rookie of the Year. He led the 2011-12 Catamounts in scoring (12.0), three-pointers made (68 of 179) and free throw percentage (96 of 108 for 88.9%) all off the bench. He helped Vermont to last year's AE championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament, where UVM beat Lamar before falling to number one bracket seed North Carolina. McGlynn's surname, by the way, is Patrick McGlynn IV, ergo the Four moniker.

Back In The Game: Stacy Alexander, who served on Joe Matthews' staff for nine seasons, is the head girls basketball coach at Turpin High School in Cincinnati. The Lady Spartans presented their new skipper with a season opening 36-32 victory over Oak Hills. The Lady Spartans, who are members of the very competitive Eastern Cincinnati Conference, are now 5-4. Elsewhere, another Tiger assistant, Erin Batth, was the first assistant hired by new head coach Jim Davis at Tennessee Tech. Erin played for Davis at Clemson.

Familiar Faces: If you caught the Coppin State at Indiana men's basketball game on the tube back on December 1st you would have seen former Tiger guard Troy Franklin, now an Eagle, coming off the bench to score five points in an 87-51 loss. On the bench for the Hoosiers sat Kenny Johnson, one of Pat Skerry's first hires who served as a Tiger assistant for one year. Franklin later scored six points in Coppin's 61-58 win over Towson. Also getting a little television time is Isaiah Philmore who left Towson after his sophomore year for Xavier. Through 11 games for the 7-4 Musketeers Philmore has seen action in eight contests with four starts. He's averaging 6.1 points and 5.6 rebounds. He departed Towson as its leading scorer with a 15.3 average. This would have been his senior year with the Tigers.

Where's He Off to Now? Tiger volleyball coach Bruce Atkinson and his recruiting itinerary put him in Puerto Rico not long ago where he was evaluating tourney talent. With seven seniors to replace, it'll be interesting to see which of the far corners of the earth will be represented in his incoming class. Towson's 2012 roster numbered 16 with players from Hawaii (3), Poland (2), Brazil and Puerto Rico. Locally they hailed from Ohio (2), California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Maryland (3) tied Hawaii.

Oddly enough, the Tigers didn't have to look too far for their most decorated player of 2012 in junior outside hitter Katy Buck who certainly doesn't require a plane ticket for a trip home. Katy, who lives a short drive around the Baltimore Beltway in Catonsville, was selected to the Capital One Academic All-America® first team because she's one heckuva a volleyball player (All CAA first team) and maintains a 3.99 grade point average as a biology major. Katy is one of several family members who have had tremendous careers at Towson. Her aunt, Leigh Buck, is a former field hockey standout who is a member of the Towson Hall of Fame. Her sister, Amy Buck, is 1999 Towson graduate who earned all-conference honors for the Tiger lacrosse team.

Pride Gets in the Way Again: Towson's 25-4 regular season volleyball record included an 18-match win streak and a perfect 12-0 conference mark, but it came at a price. On the last weekend of the regular season two starters, I'ishah Keliikoa (Hawaii) and Dayane Van Ass (Uberlandia, Brazil) went down with injured ACL's. Then during warm ups for the CAA semifinal against Hofstra, replacement Candace Steadman (Mass.) suffered, you guessed it – an ACL injury.

The No. 4-seeded Pride weren't the least bit sympathetic and eliminated the shorthanded and top-seeded Tigers 3-2 (25-14, 7-25, 25-6, 20-25, 10-15). It was the second time (2003) Hofstra had derailed the Tigers. Towson won the regular season title (14-0) nine years earlier and looked to be the post season favorite to earn the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.  

Former Tiger Requires A Salute: Congratulations are in order for Greg McClinton, a 6-9 forward who played for Terry Truax in the early to mid '80s. Greg has been given command of the Aberdeen Proving Ground Garrison. A full-bird Colonel in the United States Army, he has command over more than 1,200 soldiers, civilians and contractors of the APG U.S. Army Garrison. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1987. Greg holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Towson, a master's in computer resources and information management from Webster University and a master's in national research strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University. His military education includes Quartermaster Officer basic and advanced courses and the Army Command and General Staff College. The rest of his resume is about the length of a basketball court.

An Olympic Hopeful?: After a sensational freshman year at Towson javelin thrower Alexis Appezzato has transferred to Division III Ramapo (N.J.). Her former high school coach Joe Lee is an assistant on the Roadrunners' staff and a throws coach of much note. Alexis has a goal of competing in the Olympics and figures she'll receive the training she needs to accomplish her objective at Ramapo. The Olympic qualifying A standard (in feet) is 200-1, the B standard is 193-7. Alexis' top throw is 142-3. That put her second on Towson's all-time list to Kelly Robinson's 157-0. Alexis was unbeaten in the javelin through Towson's first five meets last spring and had the second longest throw in the CAA. She was runner up at the conference championship meet.