Five in a row: Trojans have all but two players score in 112-79 route of Texas State in fifth straight win
Published 3:00 am Tuesday, January 19, 2016
The Troy Women’s basketball team is poised to make a deep run into March after picking up their fifth win in a row Saturday.
The Trojans (10-5, 5-1 in Sun Belt play) defeated the Texas State Bobcats 112-79 and are tied for second in the Sun Belt with Louisiana-Lafayette at 5-1. The two teams will meet in the Cajun Dome next Saturday afternoon.
“It was a great, great win in Trojan Arena,” said Trojan head coach Chandra Rigby. “Any conference win is a big win.”
The win was the first win against the Bobcats since Rigby took the helm in 2012.
“We have always played poorly against them at home,” Rigby said. “This was a breakthrough for us because so many players played well.”
Rigby continued to develop her heavy rotation schedule, substitute players from the bench every couple of minutes. The approach has been successful this season, as the Lady Trojans are fifth in the nation and first in the conference in scoring, at 87 points per game.
On Saturday, three players scored in double-figures and nearly everyone on the team scored.
“We have a lot of talented players,” Rigby said. “There a lot of problems that could go along with that if you have stars that aren’t playing a lot of minutes. We came to an important part of the season where they all said ‘what is more important: me playing good or us winning?’ They have all bought into us winning.”
Sun Belt Conference Student Athlete of the week winner Ashley Beverly Kelley said it’s all about trusting her teammates to give their all while on the court.
“The starters go out and give all that we have,” Beverly-Kelley said. “We know our sisters will have our back on the bench. They can come in and fill our spot like we never left the floor.”
The Trojans finished at 57 percent from the floor. By scoring 112 points the Trojans now have posted scores in triple digits for the sixth time this season, something they only did once last season.
Beverly-Kelley finished with 22 points, making her Troy’s all time Division 1 scoring leader at 1,621.
“It is so special because you can’t like a young lady more than her with her work ethic, her faith and her unselfishness,” Rigby said. “For her to have a career like that here at Troy is very special.”
With their sights on first place, the Trojans will now embark on a tough road trip through the state of Louisiana starting Thursday at Louisiana-Monroe.
“That is the other team (Monroe) in the conference that we struggle with at their place,” Rigby said. “We have not played well against them at their place. It’s going to take all our focus and effort to get a win on the road.
Following their game against the Warhawks, the Trojans will head to Lafayette to take on the Ragin’ Cajuns, where second place or even first place could be on the line.
“We feel like if we can go into ULL having not dropped a game, whoever wins will be in the hunt for a Sun Belt Conference championship,” Rigby said.
Tip off Thursday is at 5:15 p.m.