Troy University Athletics
Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2018
It didn’t take long for Denise Monroe to know that Mandee Armstrong was talented. In fact, it was the first time Monroe saw Armstrong that she knew she was destined for a long career in basketball.
"People kept coming by telling me I had to see this kid play,” Monroe, who tutored Armstrong in high school, said. “I finally got an afternoon free and went to see her. You know talent when you see it and I knew she was going to be special.”
Monroe, who was inducted into the Troy University Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, would know success in Troy as she played for the Trojans from 1977-81. In her time with Armstrong, Monroe said they would constantly battle in one-on-one games as Armstrong displayed a ferocious work ethic while working to better her game.
It paid off as Armstrong had one of the most prolific careers in Troy basketball history. From 1993 through 1997, Armstrong was a scoring machine as she put up 1,606 points in her four-year career; a mark that stood as Troy’s Division I record for nearly 20 years.
Not only does her point total rank as the second-best mark in Troy’s Division I history, it also remains the fourth-most in school history. Under Armstrong, Troy went to the Division I postseason for the first time ever in 1996-97 with a matchup against Virginia in the NCAA West Regional.
That season saw the Trojans go 23-7 and 13-3 in the Mid-Continent Conference. The 23 wins were the most wins in school history; a record that remains today. Troy’s 13 conference wins that season also stood as a program record until the Trojans won 15 conference games in 2014-15.
Armstrong averaged 18.8 points per game as a senior and 18.2 points per game as a junior, which is the sixth and seventh most points in a season in Troy history to this day. Her 17.1 points per game for her career is the fifth most ever.
Her scoring averages were no fluke as she is the fourth-most accurate shooter in program history at 51.2 percent. Though it may be easy to label Armstrong as a shooter, she was certainly far from just that as she holds a number of records in various categories.
A terror by the basket on the offensive end, Armstrong was just as difficult to handle on the defensive side as she set the program record with 196 blocks before it was broken shortly after by teammate Samantha Tomlinson, who is eighth in NCAA history with 3.74 blocks per game.
Armstrong checks in with the third, fourth and fifth most blocks in a season. If she wasn’t blocking shots, Armstrong was most likely the first one to the glass as her 7.6 rebounds per game is the ninth most ever by a Trojan.
It took hardly any time at all for the forward to show her potential after she averaged 12.3 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game en route to being named the 1994 East Coast Conference Freshman of the Year. That season also saw her set a school record for most blocks in a season with 62.
With her successful collegiate career concluded, Armstrong then went on to play professionally in Luxembourg and Austria. Since then, she has spent time coaching while also pursuing a career in the field she graduated in: criminal justice. In 2016, Armstrong was named the police chief of the Monroeville Police Department becoming the first female chief of police in the town’s history.
Monroe said her goal was to help her be able to understand responsibility in her life to help give her an opportunity to play in college. That certainly worked out for all involved as Armstrong lived up to all expectations in her time in Troy.
