Troy University Athletics
Saturday, February 21
Troy, Ala.
2 p.m.
Troy University
17-9, 12-5
65
vs
62
UALR
22-4, 15-2
1
2
F
UALR
35
27
62
Troy
25
40
65
Team Stats
UALR
TROY
FG%
.411
.390
3FG%
.273
.500
FT%
.765
.682
RB
40
35
TO
22
15
STL
10
13
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
23
FGM
9
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
17
FGM
7
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Basketball (W)G
/ Basketball (W)F
/ Basketball (W)
G
/ Basketball (W)F
/ Basketball (W)Photo by: Chris Davis
Trojans Win Fifth Straight, Knock Off Sun Belt Leader UALR
2/21/2015 5:39:00 PM | Basketball (W)
Troy beats Sun Belt leader in February for third straight season
TROY, Alabama – The Troy women's basketball team extended its winning streak to five games with a come-from-behind win over Sun Belt leader UALR, 65-62, on Saturday at Trojan Arena.
Troy (17-9, 12-5) extended its winning streak to five games and snapped UALR's six-game winning streak in the process. Troy trailed by 10 at halftime, but held UALR (22-4, 15-2) to 27 points in the second half and made the plays it needed to down the stretch.
Ashley Beverly-Kelley scored a game-high 23 points, her seventh 20-point game in the last eight outings. Ronita Garrett recorded her 18th double-double of the season with 17 points, 13 in the second half, and 12 rebounds.
Down by one with 1:01 to go, Garrett got a nice feed from Aissata Maiga and scored the easy basket, giving Troy a 61-60 lead. Caitlyn Ramirez then made the defensive play of the game, drawing a charge on UALR's Shanity James with 36.1 seconds to go.
Ashley Beverly-Kelley then hit two free throws to extend the lead to 63-60 just ahead of a Taylor Gault layup that pulled UALR back within one. With 11.8 second to play, Lacey Buchanon calmly scored another pair of free throws that put the lead back to three, 65-62. Buchanon finished with 11 points, 10 in the second half.
Gault's 3-pointer at the buzzer was an air ball and Troy secured its second straight win over UALR inside Trojan Arena. The win keeps Troy in third place in the Sun Belt standings, two games ahead of fourth-place Texas State who did not play on Saturday.
"We really didn't play like underdogs today, even when we were down by 10 points," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "At that time my first inclination is to get in that frantic pressing mode, but we stayed back and played our zone defense, kept our gameplan and stayed in control. The maturity of our team was a big difference in this game."
Troy was down by 10 with 17:03 to go in the second half, but went on a 12-1 run to take its first lead, 41-40, since early in the first half. From there it was a back-and-forth contest with a passionate Trojan Arena crowd willing Troy to victory.
Troy, the Sun Belt's top scoring team, used its defense to spark the second-half surge. Troy forced UALR into 22 turnovers on the night, including three during the 12-1 run and three in the final 2:39 of the contest.
Gault led UALR with 20 points and six assists, but Troy held her to 3-of-10 shooting in the second half, including 0-of-3 from long range. Shanity James posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, helping UALR outrebound Troy 40-35.
Troy outrebounded UALR in the second half, 19-16, with over half (11) of Troy's boards coming on the offensive end. For the game, Troy posted 18 second-chance points, 13 of which came in the second half.
The third-place Trojans return to the court on Thursday when they travel to fourth-place Texas State for a 5:30 p.m. game at Strahan Coliseum.
For more information on Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube by searching for Troy Athletics.
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Thursday, April 03