Troy University Athletics
Troy Falls Short Against WKU
12/22/2008 6:00:00 AM | Basketball (W)
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Troy Trojans rally fell short Monday night, falling to WKU 75-66 in Sun Belt Conference action at E.A. Diddle Arena.
Junior Alyce Shearing led the Trojans with her first career double-double, recording 14 points and /10 rebounds. Meanwhile, Kylie Morrissy posted a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds in the loss, while Larelle Roper added four points, six assists and three steals.
"Alyce had the best game of her career tonight," Troy coach Michael Murphy said. "She could score from the outside and the inside in the game, and she has really come on since finals."
WKU was paced by Hope Brown with 18, Amy McNear with 17, Kenzie Rich 14 and Jessica Magley 11. The Trojans held WKU leading scorer Arnika Brown scoreless and to just five rebounds. She came into the contest averaging a double-double.
WKU jumped out to a 19-5 lead over the first 6:21 of the contest, scoring 11 of their points off of Troy turnovers to jump to a big lead to open the contest. The Trojans chipped away at the lead, going on 8-0 lead over the next 66 seconds to trim the lead to 19-13. They used a basket from Morrissy, and 3-pointers from Brittnie Davis and Sarah McAppion to trim the lead to six, 19-13.
After a Leteira Owens free throw gave WKU a 22-15 lead with 8:38 remaining in the first half, Jacklyn Selfe drained a 3-pointer with 7:53 remaining in the opening half bringing the Trojans to within four at 22-18. The lead ballooned back to six on a jumper by Owens, before a pair of free throws by Morrissy and a 3-pointer by Kirsten Smith with 5:26 remaining brought Troy to within a single point at 24-23. The two teams traded baskets for the remainder of the first half until WKU used a a layup by Jessica Magley to jump to a 33-27 lead with 2:49 to play in the opening half.
Troy used a jumper by Morrissy and a free throw with 1:41 remaining in the half to pull within three at 33-30, before WKU scored the final four points of the half for a 37-30 lead at intermission.
The Trojans were able to trim the deficit to five at the start of the second half when Shearing connected on a jumper with 19:44 to go, trimming the lead to 37-32. Unfortunately for Troy, the Lady Toppers jumped to a 61-45 lead with 8:13 remaining in the contest - their biggest lead of the night - in what proved to be too big of a deficit to overcome.
Being down 16 didn't keep the Trojans down, as they fought back to within six with 3:26 to play in the contest courtesy of a 12-2 run. Donette McNair started the run with a jumper with 7:43 remaining in the contest to trim the lead to 61-47. Morrissy kept it going with back-to-back baskets, trimming the lead to 63-51, before Shearing connected on a 3-pointer with 5:41 remaining to trim the lead to 63-54. Roper trimmed the lead to just eight with 4:55 remaining on a free throw, before Shearing's lay-up trimmed the lead to 63-57 with 4:06 to play in the game. Shearing also connected on another lay-up with just 3:26 to play, keeping the deficit at six, 65-59.
Troy shot 36.2 (24-of-65) percent from the floor and 38.5 (8-of-21) percent from beyond the arc. They also shot 66.7 (10-of-15) percent from the free throw line, while forcing 13 WKU turnovers. Meanwhile, the Lady Toppers shot 44.5 (26-of-58) percent from the floor, 40 (4-of-10) percent from beyond the arc and 73.8 (19-of-26) percent from the free throw line.
"I am really proud of our effort," Murphy said. "I am proud because of the effort we showed coming a tough loss on Saturday night. Our bench really played solid tonight, and it outscored theirs."
Troy returns to action December 28 on the road at the Battle at the Border Classic, hosted by UT-Pan American. The Trojans face Montana State in the first game at 5 pm in Edinburg.
