Troy University Athletics
Trojans Hold On To Defeat FIU
1/10/2010 2:00:00 AM | Basketball (W)
MIAMI - The Troy University women's basketball team got a career night from sophomore Tenia Manuel, built a big lead in the second and held off FIU 61-59 on the road in Sun Belt Conference basketball action Saturday night at US Century Bank Arena.
Troy head coach Michael Murphy relied on his bench Saturday night to become just the second coach in Troy women's basketball history to record 100 victories, joining Joyce Sorrell as the only other coach in school history.
Troy (9-5, 2-3 Sun Belt) finishes up a stretch of five games in 11 days and a week in south Florida with a big conference victory behind Manuel's career-high 18 points. The sophomore connected on 7-of-8 free throws, including four down the stretch in the final seconds to help seal the Troy victory.
"Tenia came up big for us tonight," Murphy said. "She came off the bench and really responded well, not to mention hitting some big free throws down the stretch to help us win. Our whole bench came up big tonight for us, the play of Sarah McAppion and Cortney Hawkins played a pivotal role for us winning the game."
After a sluggish first half for both teams, a half in which they combined for just 37 total points, they both played the second half up and down the court. The Trojans built a 15-point advantage with 7:21 left to play in the second half before FIU (6-11, 2-4 Sun Belt) made a charge, actually trimming the game to a single point.
FIU trimmed Troy's early second half lead to four at 33-29, before the Trojans went on a 16-5 run to open the 15-point lead. They used a basket by Brittnie Davis to start the run with 11:48 to play in the contest. The senior hit one of two free throws with 11:09 to play to push the lead to seven, before a Donette McNair pushed the lead to 38-29 with 10:21 to play in the second half.
After a pair of free throws by Monika Bosilj trimmed the lead to seven, Manuel hit a pair of free throws of her own followed by a Davis lay-up to give Troy a 42-31 lead with 9:26 to play in the game. McNair hit a lay-up, followed by a Manuel 3-pointer to give the Trojans their biggest lead of the night with 7:41 to play.
But then FIU went on their own run.
The Trojans were able to hold off FIU, as the Golden Panthers pulled to within four at 51-47. After the Golden Panthers run to pull within four, Troy was able to pull back ahead by eight at 57-49 with 2:24 to play in the game; doing so with their leading scorers on the bench in foul trouble.
"At one point in the game we had our three top scorers on the bench in foul trouble," Murphy said. "We had a lot of players step up in big situations to make plays for us. We always say good shooters make good shots, and great players make great plays. That is what happened tonight, and this was a total team effort."
After pulling ahead by eight, the Trojans saw another charge occur from FIU. The Golden Panthers started their run with a basket by Marquita Adley to pull within 57-51 with 1:19 to play in the contest. The lead was trimmed to 57-54 with 19 seconds to play on a free throw by Bosijl and a lay-up by Adley.
Then Manuel took over at the free throw line, connecting on her first two of the last few seconds after being fouled with just 16 seconds to play - pushing the lead to 59-54. Following an Adley lay-up, Manuel hit another pair of free throws with seven seconds remaining to push the lead back to four at 61-57.
FIU, however, had one more chance as Michelle Gonzalez was fouled on a 3-point opportunity with 3.8 seconds remaining. After hitting the first two free throws to trim the lead to 61-59, she missed the final free throw on purpose looking for an offensive rebound.
The ball was tipped around a couple of times, before Manuel put her hands on the basketball and a jump ball forced. The jump ball went to Troy, and the Trojans were able to inbound the ball with one second remaining to claim the second consecutive victory in Miami and their fourth consecutive victory in the series.
McNair was the only other Trojan in double figures with 11 points and eight rebounds, while Alyce Shearing and Davis each added nine points in the victory.
Bosilj led FIU with 19 points, while Gonzalez added 18 and Adley 12 points and nine rebounds in the loss. The Trojans held Elisa Carey to just three points - nine points below her average - in the post on the night.
After shooting just 35 percent from the floor in the first half, the Trojans finished at 45.7 (21-of-46) percent from the floor after shooting 53.8 percent in the second half. They also shot 57.1 (8-of-14) percent from beyond in the game after shooting 62.5 in the second half; as well as shot 73.3 (11-of-15) percent from the free throw line.
Meanwhile, FIU shot just 33.9 (19-of-56) percent from the floor and 32 (8-of-25) percent from beyond the arc in the loss.
The Trojans return to action against the University of North Texas at 7 pm inside Trojan Arena Wednesday night. The game can be heard on WTBF-94.7 FM, beginning at 6:45 pm with the pregame show.
