Troy University Athletics
Reversal of Fortune Leads to Consolation Victory
12/30/2007 6:00:00 AM | Basketball (W)
BRONX, N.Y. - The Troy University women's basketball team used a pair of 20-point performances from Kylie Morrissy and Amy Lewis to pull off a 78-70 victory over the host Rams in the Fordham University Holiday Tournament consolation game Sunday afternoon.
Troy (7-6) used a reversal by the officials to turn a pair of free throws by Fordham into a pair of baskets, pushing the lead to seven with 4:52 to play in the game.
After a foul was called on Morrissy, the officials talked the call over and awarded the ball to the Trojans on a traveling call against Fordham's Megan Mahoney. The next trip down the floor for Troy, the Trojans used a lay-up by Morrissy to push their lead to 59-56; instead of perhaps trailing after the free throws.
After a pair of free throws by Fordham's Annie Zopf, the Trojans went right back to Morrissy in the post. The junior scored the next six points for Troy, pushing the lead to 67-59 with 4:23 to play in the contest. Freshman guard Shareese Richardson converted a fastbreak lay-up to push the lead back to double digits for the first time in the second half.
Fordham used free throws by Zopf and Beth Troutt to trim the lead to 71-67 with 52.9 seconds remaining, but junior point guard Larelle Roper knocked one-of-two free throws to give the Trojans a 72-67with 51.4 seconds to play. After a missed lay-up by Megan Mahoney, the Trojans Audrey Muse gathered in the rebound and knocked down two free throws to push the lead to 74-67.
Troutt came down the floor for Fordham and drained a three-pointer from the corner with 26.4 seconds remaining to trim the Troy lead to 74-70.
"I thought Kylie really came up big for us," head coach Michael Murphy
said. "When Amy went out in the second half in foul trouble,
somebody had to step and make plays for us. Kylie was that person, and
came up big for us, scoring seven straight times and enabling her to
get a career high."
Although leading by 12 at the second half, the Trojans fell victim to a 10-2 Fordham run that trimmed the lead to 44-41. They scored the next four points to push the lead to 48-41, before falling to a 6-0 run by the Rams that trimmed the lead to 48-47. Troy held that lead until the 11:14 mark when Raina Spencer hit a six-footer to give Fordham their first lead of the game, 51-50.
Lewis drained a three-pointer off an inbounds pass from Larelle Roper with 10:43 to play to give the Trojans a two-point advantage, but Fordham regained the lead at 55-53 on a lay-up by Kristina Bell. The Trojans took the lead for good on a Morrissy three-pointer with 8:13 remaining in the contest.
After getting locked in the locker room minutes before the contest, the Trojans ran away from Fordham in the first half courtesy of a 16-3 run over a six-minute span. After Fordham tied the game at 10-10 with 14:02 remaining in the first half, Muse put back a missed shot to put the Trojans up 12-10, and begin the run to put the game away.
The Trojans struck again 48 seconds later when Laura Lee Holman drained a 15-foot jumper for a 15-10 advantage with 12:52 remaining. The run continued when Lewis dribbled the length of the court for a turnaround jumper and a 17-10 advantage with 12:27 remaining.
Following a trio of free throws from Fordham's Kristina Bell trimmed the deficit to five, the Trojans used a lay-up from Muse and pair of three-pointers from Danielle Realph and Lewis to take a 26-13 advantage with 8:30 remaining in the first half. During the run, the Trojans held Fordham without a field goal for 6:21.
Fordham timmed the lead down to 11 with 4:41 remaining, but a put back from Zena Lawrence and a pull-up jumper from Lewis pushed the lead to 37-22 with 3:53 to play in the opening half.
The Rams used nine free throws down the stretch, including four from Megan Mahoney, to trim the lead to 12 with 35 seconds to play. Meanwhile, Troy scored four points down low in the final 1:55 on pump fakes from Richardson and Morrissy to keep the lead in double digits.
Morrissy led the Trojans with a career-high 26 points, while Lewis added 20 in the victory. Muse added 16 points and nine rebounds.
"I thought Audrey really had a solid tournament," Murphy said. "For
two straight days, she almost had a double-double. It really gave us a
presence in the post, which is something we are going to need in our
league. Amy was solid as usual, but Kylie really came through for us
in the clutch when we needed. And I really thought Shareese did a fine
job for having not played in a while, she came in and gave us some
solid minutes."
Mahoney led Fordham (0-13) with 23 points, while Zopf added 16 and Spencer 14 in the loss.
Troy returns to action against North Texas in Sun Belt Conference play Thursday, January 3. The game is part of a doubleheader and is set to tip-off at 5:15 p.m. at Trojan Arena.
