Troy University Athletics
Trojans Look to Rebound at UALR
1/23/2009 6:00:00 AM | Basketball (W)
TROY, Ala. - The Troy University women's basketball team will look to regroup after their loss to the University of New Orleans Wednesday night as they travel to Little Rock, Ark. on Saturday afternoon to face the West Divsion leaders, UALR.
"UALR is probably the second-best team in this league right now," Troy head coach Michael Murphy said. "They run a very good motion offense, and they play a very hard-nosed man-to-man defense. They really grind it out, they get you into a half-court game and really just go at you the entire game. You have to be mentally tough in order to match what they are going to do physically. It is going to be a tough game, and we just going to prepare and practice what we are going to do on Saturday."
Troy (8-10, 3-4 Sun Belt) is in the midst of a three-game losing streak, with two of those losses to West Division schools. Of the three losses, two have come on the road. They will look to dethrone the West Division leaders, who enter the game fresh off a victory over South Alabama Wednesday night by double digits.
"The loss was very frustration Wednesday night," Murphy said. "What you take from it, I hope, is a great deal of determination to get better and to prepare in practice the way you want to play in the game. Hopefully that is what this loss will do; to be even more focused, to be even more determined to get better and compete hard and put together 40 minutes."
The Trojans of UALR (15-4, 7-1 Sun Belt) are led by sophomore Chastity Reed, averaging 17 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, while playing an average of 31.8 minutes per game. Anshel Cooper is averaging 14.9 points, while Kim Sitzmann is averaging 11.2 points per game for a team that averages 64.1 points per game for the season. UALR's opponents are averaging just 53.8 points per game, while the Trojans are being outrebounded slightly (623-622) by their opponents.
Meanwhile, Troy is led by senior Kylie Morrissy averaging 17.1 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game, while averaging 34.5 minutes per game. Sophomore Donette McNair is averaging 11.8 points and 7.8 rebound per game, while averaging just 22.6 minutes per game. She has recorded six double-doubles this season, including back-to-back double-doubles against ULM and New Orleans. Senior Larelle Roper is fourth all-time at Troy in assists and is just 21 away from breaking into the Top 25 all-time in the Sun Belt Conference - averaging 4.1 assists per game this season.
Troy is 0-4 all-time against UALR, including 0-1 at the Jack Stephens Center. The game is scheduled to tip at 4:30 pm and can be seen on Trojan GamePass.
