Troy Ready for Top-Seeded Arkansas State

NEW ORLEANS – After the first Sun Belt quarterfinal win in program history, the Troy women's basketball team will now take a six-game winning streak in to a Friday semifinal against top-seeded Arkansas State at the Sun Belt Championships. Troy and Arkansas State will tip off at 11:30 a.m. at Lakefront Arena with a trip to Saturday's championships game on the line.

Fans can watch Friday's game on ESPN3 at WatchESPN.com, listen to a free live audio broadcast on TroyTrojans.com, listen in Troy on WTBF 94.7 FM or follow live stats through SunBeltSports.org. Fans can also follow @TroyTrojansWBB on Twitter for live, in-game updates.

Troy (18-12), the tournament's No. 4 seed, knocked off in-state rival South Alabama on Wednesday, 62-49. The 49 points were the fewest allowed by Troy this season, and its fewest allowed since a 2013 Sun Belt tournament win over South Alabama.

On Wednesday, the Trojans shot just 21 percent in the first half, but trailed by only eight points at halftime, before locking down on defense in the second half. Troy held South Alabama to four points in the third quarter, and took a lead it would never give up.

Troy forced the Jaguars into 31 turnovers and tied a school record with 23 steals. South Alabama had seven turnovers in eight possessions to close the third and start the fourth as Troy took over for good.

Ashley Beverly Kelley got back-to-back fast break layups after two of those turnovers to give Troy the lead. The Sun Belt's leading scorer got those timely baskets and finished with 18 points, but struggled from the field and shot just 5-of-20. She was one of four Trojans to score in double figures, and one of four to have four or more steals.

Claresa Banks had a team-best five steals off the bench and also scored 13 points, including three 3-pointers. ArJae' Saunders added 13 points, eight rebounds and four steals, while Caitlyn Ramirez had 11 points, 12 rebounds and four steals.

Beverly Kelley upped her career total to 1,930 points, the most among active Sun Belt players and the 11th most in conference history. She is 30 points from breaking into the top 10. Troy is still averaging 82.0 points per game, tops in the Sun Belt and sixth in the NCAA. The Trojans rank fifth in the NCAA, forcing 22.4 turnovers per game.

Troy successfully avenged two regular season losses to the Jaguars, and will look to do the same against Arkansas State (26-4), the Sun Belt regular season championships. The Red Wolves went 19-1 in Sun Belt play, with the lone loss coming in the week's final season at Little Rock.

Arkansas State beat Appalachian State, 81-61, in Friday's first quarterfinal. The Red Wolves got 10 straight points from Aundrea Gamble late in the first quarter to take a lead they would never give up.

Gamble, the Sun Belt Student-Athlete of the Year, finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Fellow first team All-Sun Belt selection Khadija Brown-Haywood added 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

The Red Wolves start five seniors, including Gamble who is the first three-time Student-Athlete of the Year in Sun Belt history. Gamble averages 18.6 points and 4.8 assists per game, while Brown-Haywood averages 17.3 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. They rank second and third in the Sun Belt in scoring, behind only Troy's Ashley Beverly Kelley.

Friday's winner will move to face either Little Rock or UL Lafayette in Saturday night's championship game. Little Rock and UL Lafayette play at 2 p.m. on Friday, and Saturday's championship game is schedule for 7 p.m. All of the tournament's games can be seen on ESPN3.

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Players Mentioned

Claresa Banks

Ashley Beverly Kelley

Caitlyn Ramirez

ArJae' Saunders

Troy University Athletics