EDINBURG, Texas - For the second time in as many years, the Troy Trojans captured a holiday tournament title.

Last season, the Trojans won a Thanksgiving Tournament in Tulsa; this season, the Trojans relied on defense and pulled off a 54-39 victory over the University of Texas Pan American in the Battle at the Border Classic at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

"This was a terrific team victory," Troy coach Michael Murphy said. "Once again we played with a great deal of heart in the second half, especially defensively. We locked down on our half court defense, and really made it tough for them to score against us. And we didn’t give up any offensive rebounds and we dominated both ends of the floor."

Tournament Most Valuable Player, Kylie Morrissy led the Trojans with a game-high 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor and a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. Sophomore Donette McNair, an All-Tournament selection, chipped in with 15 points in the victory.

Troy finished the night shooting 41.3 (19-of-46) percent from the floor and 46.2 (6-of-13) percent from beyond the arc. They also shot 90.9 (10-of-11) percent from the free throw line. The Trojans held UTPA to just 27.7 (13-of-47) percent shooting from the floor and 22.2 (4-of-18) percent shooting from beyond the arc.

"We just dominated both ends of the floor," Murphy said. "That allowed us to come out with tournament victory against a very good basketball team who hasn’t lost a home game this year."

After a sluggish first half, Troy (5-7) used a 16-0 run over the first 10 minutes of the second half to hand UTPA their first home loss of the season. After the Lady Broncs scored the opening basket of the second half to trim the Troy lead to 24-23, Troy held UTPA over six minutes without a basket to start the run.

Alyce Shearing gave Troy a three-point lead at 26-23 with 15:12 to play in the contest, and the lead grew to as many as 17 when Morrissy connected on a lay-up with 10:23 to play in the contest - giving Troy a 40-23 lead.

After a short 5-0 UTPA run, Troy scored 12 of the game’s next 17 points to push the lead to an insurmountable 19 points, 52-33.

In a first half that featured a combined 27 turnovers and 30 missed field goals, the two teams used big runs to pull away from the opponent. Although the teams combined to miss 30 shots, the Trojans were able to shot 43.5 (10-of-23) percent in the first half from the floor and 50 (4-of-8) percent from beyond the arc. They held UTPA to to just 26.1 (6-of-23) percent from the floor and 23.1 (3-of-13) percent from beyond the arc.

UTPA opened the game on a 9-0 run all on 3-pointers from point guard Epiphany Smith - an All-Tournament selection, before Troy was able to gain their composure and chip away at the lead. The Trojans used a 14-2 run of their own to capture a 14-11 lead midway through the opening half.

Morrissy started the scoring for the Trojans, connecting on a short eight-foot jumper with 16:30 left to play in the opening half. That was followed 30 seconds later by a McNair lay-up off an assist by Morrissy, started with a McNair steal on the defensive end of the floor.

After a UTPA basket extended the lead to 11-4, the Trojans used back-to-back 3-pointers from Larelle Roper, an All-Tournament selection, and Brittnie Davis to trim the lead to a single digit at 11-10 with 12:42 to play in the opening half. The Trojans were able to gain their first lead of the opening half on a Morrissy 12-foot jumper with 11:32 to play in the half, and ended the run with a Shearing lay-up off an inbounds pass with 9:07 left to play in the half.

UTPA was able to regain the lead with 7:23 to play in the half on a pair of free throws by Aleeya Grigsby, before Troy was able to take back the lead with 2:33 to play on 3-pointer from Sarah McAppion. The Lady Broncs tied the game at 19 with a short jumper from Rose Esther Jean - her only field goal of the opening half.

The Trojans took the lead with 65 seconds remaining in the half on a Roper 3-pointer, and extended the lead to three heading to the locker room on a lay-up by McNair with just 11.5 seconds remaining.

Troy returns to action January 3 against FIU in their conference home opener.  The game is part of a doubleheader with the men's basketball team, tipping off at 5:15 pm at Trojan Arena.  For ticket information, contact the Troy Athletics Ticket Office at 1-877-878-WINS.  The game can be heard on WTBF-94.7 FM, with Buddy Johnson providing the play-by-play.