Troy runs away with dominate Exhibition win

Published 3:00 am Friday, November 6, 2015

TROY – The Troy women’s basketball team returned to the court and played at its normal fast pace in a dominant, 118-53, exhibition win over Stillman at Trojan Arena on Thursday.

Troy forced 36 turnovers and picked up 24 steals, which would be a school record in a regular-season game. The pressure defense helped the Trojans score 35 points off turnovers and race out to 28 fast break points.

“We pressed on makes and misses,” Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. “We haven’t always done both and I thought that surprised them and caused a lot of the turnovers.”

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Five Trojans scored in double figures, including the entire starting backcourt of Ashley Beverly Kelley (23), Ta’Kierra Gibbs (20) and Rachel Reid (16) who combined for 59 points and 10 assists.

Claresa Banks scored 15 points off the bench, including a perfect 3-of-3 from deep and 6-of-6 from the line. Lauren Day also scored what would be a career-high 10 points in nine minutes.

“I thought it was going to be difficult to get in a good flow tonight, just because we were planning on substituting so many people so fast, but we found our flow,” Rigby said.

The Trojans did start fairly slow, holding just a 15-7 lead after the first quarter, but they turned it on in the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Tigers, 35-16, for a 50-23 halftime lead. Troy came out of the break even faster, outscoring Stillman 44-12 in the third period.

Troy stuck to Rigby’s plan and played every available player by the end of the first quarter. All 12 scored, including 51 points off the Troy bench.

Troy shot 50 percent (44-of-88) from the floor and hit 24-of-26 from the line, while holding Stillman to 28 percent (20-of-71) overall, thanks in large part to nine blocks. Troy outscored Stillman in the paint, 62-26.

Troy outrebounded the Tigers, 57-44, led by 10 rebounds off the bench from Casie Johnson. Victoria Douglas and Joclyn Ramos both posted double-doubles for the Tigers with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 12 points, 10 rebounds, respectively.

The Trojans open their regular season next Friday when West Alabama visits Trojan Arena for a 12 p.m. contest. Admission to that game is free and all area school students are invited to attend.