Trojans fall in conference tournament

Published 10:08 pm Saturday, March 10, 2018

NEW ORLEANS – Troy’s bid for a Sun Belt Conference Tournament three-peat ended with a 66-63 loss to top-seeded Little Rock on Saturday at Lakefront Arena.

After Troy battled back from an 11-point, fourth quarter deficit, Kayla Robinson‘s desperate heave with 1.1 seconds left fell short ending the Trojans season with an 18-13 record. Troy has won 18 games in four consecutive seasons for the first time in program history and are 80-48 over that span.

“We lost to a great team, the number one team in the conference and they are for a reason,” Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. “I thought we got off to a slow start but it’s because the other team was really good.”

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The Trojans struggled early shooting just 30 percent in the first half, were outrebounded 24-18 and a 6-0 Little Rock run at the end of the second quarter sent Troy into the locker room trailing by five, 32-27.

Kayla Robinson, who was held to just one field goal attempt in the first half, scored all of her team-high 14 points over the final 12:38. Amber Rivers finished with 11 points while Sky’Lynn Holmes chipped in with 10; both hauled in nine rebounds.

Harriet Winchester pulled Troy to within one with a 3-pointer with 6:42 left in the third quarter, but the Trojans were held without a field goal over the final 2:38 putting them in an eight-point hole heading into the final quarter.

Little Rock opened its largest lead, 56-45, with 8:16 remaining in the game, but Troy went on a 13-8 run to push the game to the wire.

Troy shot 32.4 percent (24-74) in the game while Little Rock converted 53.5 percent (23-43) of its shots. Neither team was good from beyond the arc shooting a combined 7 of 28.

Dajia Williams and Chelsey Gibson depart the program as seniors after winning a combined 118 games.