The Troy women were unable to overcome a 15-point halftime deficit and fell to Louisiana-Monroe 83-72 Thursday night at Trojan Arena. The loss is the eighth straight for the Trojans.

Troy cut in to the ULM lead several times in the second half, getting it to nine points on multiple occasions, but never got any closer down the stretch. Troy was outrebounded badly in the first half, and loss the rebounding battle to ULM 55-38 for the game.

“It is getting a little too familiar coming in here after a game and talking about a loss,” said Troy head coach Chanda Rigby. “We are definitely putting everything we have in it to turn it around and get a win. The biggest overall stand out problem in the first half was rebounding.”

Troy’s only lead of the game was in the opening seconds of the contest when Ashley Beverly-Kelley drilled a three from the left wing on Troy’s first possession. The slow start saw the Trojans fall behind early, from which the Trojans never recovered.

Rigby said the problem is becoming all too common for her Trojans.

“It was the same song, but millionth verse,” said Rigby. “”We got off to a slow start. We have tried to work on that all week, but it didn’t work.”

Troy was led by Joanna Harden’s 32 points. Harden came in to the game sixth nationally in points scored per game. She eclipsed her average of 24.1 per game.

While Rigby is excited to have Harden producing so much, she is worried that some of her other guards are shying away from the basketball.

“I think I have some guards struggling with some confidence issues right now,” Rigby said. “They are pushing the ball out to Jo a lot quicker than they used to. We have some guards that can handle the ball, but when you have gone through so many losses, it will take a lot of pep talks and psychology to get them to realize it.”

The loss drops Troy to 4-12, and loses of eight consecutive games. The last win for the Trojans came way back on December 8, a 94-86 win over Evansville.

Troy plays host to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday at Trojan Arena. Tipoff is set for 5:15 p.m.