DENTON, Texas ?
The Troy University Trojans were unable to overcome a first half shooting
drought, falling to the University
of North Texas 75-50 at
the Super Pit in Sun Belt Conference action Saturday night.
The Trojans fell behind by eight points early, 18-10, in the
first half before they were able to pull within five points midway through the
period. Junior point guard Larelle Roper cut through the North Texas (13-13, 8-6 SBC) defense for a lay-up,
trimming the deficit to 18-12 with 13:01 to play in the opening half.
After a free throw by North Texas' Brittney James with 12:12
remaining gave the Mean Green a 19-12 lead, North Texas
was able to get an offensive rebound and sent James back to the line where she
connected on one-of-two for a 20-12 lead.
The Trojans trimmed the deficit to 20-15 on a three-pointer
by senior guard Laura Lee Holman
with 10:44 to play in the opening half.
That basket was the last one for the Trojans over a nine minute
span. Over that span, North
Texas went on a 16-0 run to pull away in the first half and take a
commanding 36-15 lead.
Troy
(10-16, 3-12 SBC) ended their first half drought with an Amy Lewis lay-up at
the 1:58 mark, trimming the lead to 36-17.
Following a three-pointer by North Texas'
Yari Escalera, the Trojans' Audrey Muse
connected on a lay-up with 1:04 to play in the opening half to reach the
halftime score of 39-19.
The Trojans were never able to recover in the second half,
shooting 41.9 (13-of-31) from the floor and just 25 (3-of-12) percent from
behind the arc in the second stanza. The
two teams traded baskets throughout the first half after the Mean Green scored
the first four points of the second half.
Lewis led Troy
with 17 points, on 6-of-21 shooting from the floor, while Muse added 10 points
and seven rebounds. Lewis also added six
rebounds and three steals in the loss.
James led
North Texas with
17 points and nine rebounds, while Escalera added 16 and Erica Howard 14 points
in the victory.
The Trojans shot 34.4 (21-of-61) percent from the floor and
21.7 (5-of-23) percent from behind the arc.
They also shot 60 (3-of-5) percent from the free throw line. Meanwhile, North Texas
shot 42.9 (30-of-70) percent from the floor and 40.9 (9-of-22) percent from
behind the arc. They also shot 66.7
(6-of-9) percent from the free throw line, while outrebounding the Trojans
52-30.
The loss was the sixth consecutive defeat for the Trojans,
and fifth consecutive road loss. Troy has three games
remaining on their schedule beginning with their next game, before the
beginning of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on March 5.
Troy
will be off for a week before playing the first of two consecutive home games
on Saturday, February 23. The Trojans
host Florida International at Trojan Arena, beginning at 5:15 p.m. and is one
of only two homes game remaining. The
game be heard locally on WTBF-94.7 FM with Buddy
Johnson providing play-by-play.
