Troy women lose 14th consecutive conference game
Published 8:50 pm Thursday, January 24, 2013
Chandy Rigby’s first season as head coach of the Troy women’s basketball team hasn’t gone as well as she hoped.
The Trojans (3-15, 0-9 Sun Belt) lost their 14th Sun Belt Conference game on Thursday in a 87-74 decision to Arkansas State at Trojan Arena.
Troy, who won just two games last year, has now lost seven straight, but Rigby isn’t throwing in the towel yet.
“We’ll get there. Don’t give up on us yet Trojan Nation,” Rigby said as she concluded her postgame press conference.
That confidence is what has led Rigby to success at her previous coaching stops including Pensacola State College where she led the program to back-to-back state championships and trips to the Final Four.
In her last two seasons with Pensacola State, Rigby led the Pirates to a 64-6 record. Her up-tempo offense is one made to break records.
Troy leads the Sun Belt in scoring (74.6 ppg) and rebounds (42.7 rpg), but the team has not been able to translate that production into victories.
“You have to win a lot of battles to win the war. We haven’t won enough battles yet,” Rigby said.
Rigby also said the Trojans, who are just 10-66 in the past three seasons, are working to improve their confidence.
“I really believe that’s the reason why you miss as many free throws as we did today. That’s why you don’t do things that you do in practice,” she said.
Troy was just 14 of 21 from the charity stripe.
Rigby said the team is striving to win the little ‘battles’ like offensive rebounding – Troy collected 24 offensive boards to Arkansas State’s 11 – and turnovers – Troy had just 11 on Thursday.
The Trojans have an opportunity to get into the win column in conference play on Saturday as the team travels to face Louisiana-Monroe. The Warhawks are also 3-15 overall on the year.