Troy University Athletics
Turnovers Plague Trojans in Loss at MTSU
1/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Basketball (W)
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Troy University women's basketball team turned the ball over 25 times as it fell 91-60 at Middle Tennessee on Saturday. Middle Tennessee was able to convert Troy's turnovers into 34 points. The loss is Troy's third straight and moves Troy to 0-7 on the road.
Valensia Hairston led Troy with 12 points, and Kylie Morrissy added 10.
Chrissy Givens led Middle Tennessee with 27 points, 23 scored in the first half. Johnna Abney finished with 20 points, 18 scored on a 6-of-9 performance from behind the arc.
The Trojans shot 19-of-42 (45 percent) from the floor, including 1-of-6 (17 percent) from three-point range. Troy finished 21-of-23 (91 percent) from the free-throw line.
MTSU shot 34-of-73 (47 percent), and they were 10-of-21 (48 percent) from three-point range. The Blue Raiders were 13-of-17 (76 percent) from the free-throw line.
The Blue Raiders held a 36-29 rebounding advantage over Troy.
The Trojans (7-9, 1-4 SBC) turned the ball over on three of their first four possessions, and MTSU (11-7, 4-1) took an 11-2 lead just three minutes into the game.
Trailing 19-12 at the 12:13 mark, the Trojans scored just six free throws over the next seven minutes as MTSU built a 41-20 lead with five minutes left in the half. The Trojans turned the ball over six times over that span.
The Blue Raiders would lead by at least 20 through the rest of the half, and they took their largest lead when Monique Martin made a layup in the final ten seconds of the half that gave MTSU a 59-28 lead that they would take into the break.
The Trojans shot 45 percent (9-of-20) from the floor, and they were 0-of-2 from three-point range in the first half. Troy was 10-of-10 from the free-throw line through the first 20 minutes. The Trojans committed 15 turnovers in the first period.
The Blue Raiders got off twice as many shots as the Trojans in the first half, shooting 21-of-41 (51.2 percent) from the field. MTSU shot 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from three-point range in the first half, led by Abney who was 4-of-4 from behind the arc in the first half.
The Trojans turned the ball over on their first four possessions of the second half. Troy was never able to cut MTSU's lead to less than 29 in the second half. The Trojans trailed by as many as 36 on the way to the loss.
The 31 point loss is the Trojans' largest since falling 80-42 to Florida State on December 29, 2003.
Just like in our last two losses, we got down too much early. We can't go down 25 points in the first half and expect to win,” Troy head coach Michael Murphy said. We have to improve on the boards. We can't give up that many rebounds and not get any. That and our turnovers really hurt us. Their pressure caused us to turn the ball over too much.
I'm really proud of our effort. Again, the girls fought until the end and they never gave up.”
The Trojans will play in the second leg of their four-game road trip when they travel to North Texas and Denver on Thursday and Saturday.
