Troy University Athletics
Trojans' Upset Bid Falls Short
11/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Basketball (W)
AUBURN, Ala. - Youth. Inexperience. No proven scorers. Leadership lost to graduation.
All reasons the Troy women's basketball team was picked to finish last in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference by a vote of the conference coaches. However, after Friday night's performance against the defending SEC champion, Auburn Tigers, many may rethink that preseason evaluation.
For 39 minutes, the Trojans had the Auburn faithful on the edge of their seats in the season-opener for both teams. However, in the end, Auburn was able to prevail over the upstart Trojans 70-65 at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.
“I am very appreciative of my team's effort,” Troy coach Michael Murphy said. “I thought they played with a great deal of grit, having to overcome a lot of things such as injuries and foul trouble. We had kids on the floor who have never played in a college game before, and it showed at times.
“We have a lot of things to build upon from this game going forward. We have a lot of things to correct which we will see on film, but I am extremely proud of their effort tonight.”
Troy (0-1) turned to their bench early and often in Friday night's game as three starters found themselves in foul trouble from the start. Senior Alyce Shearing went to the bench early in the first half with a pair of fouls, while junior Donette McNair and senior Brittnie Davis each fouled out in the contest.
Although Davis was in foul trouble late in the contest, she found herself on the floor with freshmen and sophomores on a consistent basis Friday night.
“We just had to fight through a lot tonight,” Davis said. “We had injuries coming into tonight and then a couple of more people got hurt. The young players helped us to overcome what happened with the injuries, and hopefully we can build from this for the next game.”
Throughout the foul trouble by the Trojans, they turned to a pair of three young players - freshmen Sophie Kleeman and Cortney Hawkins, and sophomore Sarah McAppion - to give themselves a chance to win. Kleeman and McAppion combined to score 24 points off the bench, while Hawkins four points and seven rebounds in the loss.
“I thought those two (McAppion and Kleeman) played the way we had hoped they would play,” Murphy said. “I don't want Cortney to get lost in the bunch either, I thought she did a great job coming off the bench. Our bench played with purpose and a great deal of determination. Without the bench, we would have struggled tonight.”
After trailing by as many as nine in the first half, the Trojans fought back to take a 46-44 second half lead when Kleeman got her defender in the air and stepped around for an easy jumper with 14:49 to play. Auburn (1-0) eventually fought back to take a 47-46 lead with 13:04 to play, but the game was not over in the eyes of the Trojans.
Playing with a depleted roster due to injuries suffered in practice and in the contest, the Trojans continued to fight and pressure the defending SEC champions.
“We just have to figure a way to fight through it and I have 10 bodies in practice, so if anyone wants to come out and practice let me know,” Murphy said jokingly with the media post game. “I literally have every starter with some sort of injury, so that is going to be an issue for us.”
Auburn was able to push the lead back to five at 52-47 with 10:11 to play in the contest, before Troy went on 9-4 run to even the score at 56-all with 5:47 to play.
McAppion trimmed the lead to 52-49 and started the run with 8:01 remaining in the contest on a jumper. Chantel Hilliard pushed the lead back to five at 54-49 with a pair of free throws with 7:28 to play, before Davis connected on a 3-pointer to silence the Tiger faithful with 7:14 left in the contest. After an Auburn basket, the Trojans scored on back-to-back lay-ups by Shearing to tie the contest with 5:26 to play.
The two teams traded baskets until Hawkins hit a free throw with 3:25 to play to trim the lead to 62-59, before Auburn scored eight of the next 12 points to take a 70-63 lead with 44 seconds remaining.
Davis points back to the preseason poll as motivation for the Trojans' uprising on Friday, and hopes that it will build momentum for the future.
“I hope this game makes people take us serious,” she said. “We were picked to finish last in the division of the conference, and to lose by five points to the defending SEC champion says a lot. I think this a wake up call for everyone, we are going to be better than most people thought we were.”
The Trojans entered the game at a decided height disadvantage, but used their quickness to grab 44 rebounds, and lead the rebounding war by seven at halftime. The Trojans were able to grab 16 offensive boards, and force 16 Auburn turnovers.
“I thought we did a really good job of playing the way we wanted to play,” Murphy said. “Offensively we played with rhythm and played with purpose. I think defensively we got lost a couple of times, which in a close game hurts. Overall I am really happy with the determination the team showed coming back.”
Davis finished the game with 14 points, six rebounds and four steals to pace the Trojans. McAppion added 12 points, six rebounds and five assists; while Kleeman added 12 points and five rebounds in her first career game. Shearing, after only playing four minutes in the first half finished with nine points.
Auburn was led by Alli Smalley with 23 points, while Nicolle Thomas and Hilliard added 13 each in the victory.
Troy shot 38.9 (21-of-54) percent from the floor, 50 (8-of-16) percent from beyond the arc and 51.7 (15-of-29) percent from the charity stripe. Auburn finished shooting 33.8 (22-of-65) percent from the floor and 16.7 (3-of-18) percent from beyond the arc; with a pair from Smalley.
The Trojans' bench outscored Auburn's bench 30-21 in the contest.
“You build on every game,” Murphy said. “There are different lessons to be learned from every game. Some lessons are of effort, others are of purpose and passion. I think we had all of that tonight. What we have to do is understand when you come off the bench, you have to bring an attitude and an energy especially defensively to the game.”
Troy returns to action Tuesday night at Jacksonville State University. The game will be the third meeting in as many years for the one-time rivals, and will tip at 5:15 pm from Pete Mathews Coliseum on the campus of Jacksonville State.
All reasons the Troy women's basketball team was picked to finish last in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference by a vote of the conference coaches. However, after Friday night's performance against the defending SEC champion, Auburn Tigers, many may rethink that preseason evaluation.
For 39 minutes, the Trojans had the Auburn faithful on the edge of their seats in the season-opener for both teams. However, in the end, Auburn was able to prevail over the upstart Trojans 70-65 at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.
“I am very appreciative of my team's effort,” Troy coach Michael Murphy said. “I thought they played with a great deal of grit, having to overcome a lot of things such as injuries and foul trouble. We had kids on the floor who have never played in a college game before, and it showed at times.
“We have a lot of things to build upon from this game going forward. We have a lot of things to correct which we will see on film, but I am extremely proud of their effort tonight.”
Troy (0-1) turned to their bench early and often in Friday night's game as three starters found themselves in foul trouble from the start. Senior Alyce Shearing went to the bench early in the first half with a pair of fouls, while junior Donette McNair and senior Brittnie Davis each fouled out in the contest.
Although Davis was in foul trouble late in the contest, she found herself on the floor with freshmen and sophomores on a consistent basis Friday night.
“We just had to fight through a lot tonight,” Davis said. “We had injuries coming into tonight and then a couple of more people got hurt. The young players helped us to overcome what happened with the injuries, and hopefully we can build from this for the next game.”
Throughout the foul trouble by the Trojans, they turned to a pair of three young players - freshmen Sophie Kleeman and Cortney Hawkins, and sophomore Sarah McAppion - to give themselves a chance to win. Kleeman and McAppion combined to score 24 points off the bench, while Hawkins four points and seven rebounds in the loss.
“I thought those two (McAppion and Kleeman) played the way we had hoped they would play,” Murphy said. “I don't want Cortney to get lost in the bunch either, I thought she did a great job coming off the bench. Our bench played with purpose and a great deal of determination. Without the bench, we would have struggled tonight.”
After trailing by as many as nine in the first half, the Trojans fought back to take a 46-44 second half lead when Kleeman got her defender in the air and stepped around for an easy jumper with 14:49 to play. Auburn (1-0) eventually fought back to take a 47-46 lead with 13:04 to play, but the game was not over in the eyes of the Trojans.
Playing with a depleted roster due to injuries suffered in practice and in the contest, the Trojans continued to fight and pressure the defending SEC champions.
“We just have to figure a way to fight through it and I have 10 bodies in practice, so if anyone wants to come out and practice let me know,” Murphy said jokingly with the media post game. “I literally have every starter with some sort of injury, so that is going to be an issue for us.”
Auburn was able to push the lead back to five at 52-47 with 10:11 to play in the contest, before Troy went on 9-4 run to even the score at 56-all with 5:47 to play.
McAppion trimmed the lead to 52-49 and started the run with 8:01 remaining in the contest on a jumper. Chantel Hilliard pushed the lead back to five at 54-49 with a pair of free throws with 7:28 to play, before Davis connected on a 3-pointer to silence the Tiger faithful with 7:14 left in the contest. After an Auburn basket, the Trojans scored on back-to-back lay-ups by Shearing to tie the contest with 5:26 to play.
The two teams traded baskets until Hawkins hit a free throw with 3:25 to play to trim the lead to 62-59, before Auburn scored eight of the next 12 points to take a 70-63 lead with 44 seconds remaining.
Davis points back to the preseason poll as motivation for the Trojans' uprising on Friday, and hopes that it will build momentum for the future.
“I hope this game makes people take us serious,” she said. “We were picked to finish last in the division of the conference, and to lose by five points to the defending SEC champion says a lot. I think this a wake up call for everyone, we are going to be better than most people thought we were.”
The Trojans entered the game at a decided height disadvantage, but used their quickness to grab 44 rebounds, and lead the rebounding war by seven at halftime. The Trojans were able to grab 16 offensive boards, and force 16 Auburn turnovers.
“I thought we did a really good job of playing the way we wanted to play,” Murphy said. “Offensively we played with rhythm and played with purpose. I think defensively we got lost a couple of times, which in a close game hurts. Overall I am really happy with the determination the team showed coming back.”
Davis finished the game with 14 points, six rebounds and four steals to pace the Trojans. McAppion added 12 points, six rebounds and five assists; while Kleeman added 12 points and five rebounds in her first career game. Shearing, after only playing four minutes in the first half finished with nine points.
Auburn was led by Alli Smalley with 23 points, while Nicolle Thomas and Hilliard added 13 each in the victory.
Troy shot 38.9 (21-of-54) percent from the floor, 50 (8-of-16) percent from beyond the arc and 51.7 (15-of-29) percent from the charity stripe. Auburn finished shooting 33.8 (22-of-65) percent from the floor and 16.7 (3-of-18) percent from beyond the arc; with a pair from Smalley.
The Trojans' bench outscored Auburn's bench 30-21 in the contest.
“You build on every game,” Murphy said. “There are different lessons to be learned from every game. Some lessons are of effort, others are of purpose and passion. I think we had all of that tonight. What we have to do is understand when you come off the bench, you have to bring an attitude and an energy especially defensively to the game.”
Troy returns to action Tuesday night at Jacksonville State University. The game will be the third meeting in as many years for the one-time rivals, and will tip at 5:15 pm from Pete Mathews Coliseum on the campus of Jacksonville State.
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