Troy University Athletics
Trojans Fall To WKU At Home
1/21/2010 1:00:00 AM | Basketball (W)
Troy, Ala. - Brittnie Davis' first half performance was not enough as the Troy University women's basketball team fell to WKU 63-56 in Sun Belt Conference action Wednesday night at Trojan Arena.
"I am really proud of our effort tonight," Troy head coach Michael Murphy said. "This is a very good Western Kentucky team that we played against tonight. I think we became a better team tonight even though we lost the game."
Davis scored 16 of her 29 points in the first half, connecting on 6-of-8 shots from the floor and all three of her 3-point opportunities. The senior finished the night 10-of-16 from the floor and 5-of-7 from beyond the arc.
"Brittnie had a heroic night for us," Murphy said. "I would expect nothing less from my senior. Not only did she score 29 points in the win, but she also played defense against one of the best shooters in the league and she had two points - none from the floor. We lost her a couple of times, but Brittnie did a good job closing out and not allowing her an open look."
Sophomore Sarah McAppion, making her first career start, chipped in with 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the floor.
"We decided to start Sarah to change things up a bit," Murphy said. "If you look at our bench scoring throughout the year thus far, she has made up the majority of that. It showed tonight as we did not score off the bench for the entire game."
The Trojans shot 34.5 (20-of-58) percent from the floor and 36.8 (7-of-19) percent from beyond the arc. Meanwhile WKU was able to shoot 42.3 (22-of-52) percent from the floor and 27.3 (3-of-11) percent from beyond the arc for the contest.
WKU was led by Arnika Brown with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Amy McNear added 13 and Dominique Duck with 10. Kenzie Rich was held to just two points (both on free throws), while being guarded by Davis all night.
Troy (10-7, 3-5 Sun Belt) led the majority of the first half, until Rich stole the ball from McAppion and threw it to a streaking McNear running up the court. The junior raced by the Trojan defenders and converted the lay-up with 29.6 seconds remaining in the first half to give WKU (11-7, 5-2 Sun Belt) a 29-28 lead, forcing a Trojan timeout with just 20.6 seconds remaining.
Following the timeout, the Trojans' McAppion drove to the basket and was promptly fouled by WKU's Jessica Magley with just 2.3 seconds remaining. The sophomore missed her first free throw, but converted her second to tie the score at 29-all. However, McNear's late-second antics were not complete as took the inbounds pass and heaved a 35-footer at the buzzer to give the Lady Toppers a 32-29 halftime lead.
The Trojans biggest lead of the opening half came with 12:31 to play, when Davis drained a 3-pointer from the left side to give Troy a 19-10 lead.
After WKU tied the score at 7-all, the Trojans went on a 12-3 run to take the nine-point advantage less than eight minutes into the contest. The run started on a Davis' 3-pointer from the wing to give Troy a 10-7 lead with 16:57 to play in the opening half. The lead was pushed to 13-8 with 16:13 to play when the senior connected on another 3-pointer, this time from the other wing.
WKU trimmed the lead to 13-10 when McNear connected on a pair of free throws with 14:05 to play in the opening half, before the Trojans pushed the lead to 15-10 on a Davis jumper and free throw (fouled by McNear). The Montgomery-native finished off her 12-3 run with another 3-pointer with 12:31 to play for the nine-point advantage. During the run, the Lady Toppers tried three different defenders on Davis but none were successful in slowing down the senior during the four-minute span.
The Trojans held that lead until the Lady Toppers started chipping away with 6:17 to play in the half.
A basket by Jasmine Johnson trimmed the lead to 23-18 at the 6:17 mark of the first half. From the that point until a basket by Sophie Kleeman with 14:48 to play in the contest, the Lady Toppers went on a 25-6 run over a span of nine minutes to pull away 41-29 in the second half. During that time the Trojans went without a basket for seven of those minutes, until Kleeman's basket trimmed the lead to 41-31.
The lead stayed at double digits until McAppion was fouled with 12:48 to play in the contest. She promptly went to the line and drained both free throws to pull the Trojans within 43-35. The Lady Toppers were able to push the lead back to double digits at 47-35 with 10:18 to play in the contest when the Trojans were unable to convert on three consecutive possessions.
After falling behind by as many as 17 in the second half, Davis finally hit another shot for the Trojans as she drained a 3-pointer from the corner to trim the lead to 52-37. The Trojans were able to convert on their next trip down the floor, as Alyce Shearing lost her dribble near the free throw line but was able to pick it up and knock down a jumper to trim the lead to 52-40 with 8:06 to play in the game.
But the Trojans were unable to get the game into single digits until late in the contest, as the WKU depth wore down the home team. Trailing by 14 with 1:03 to play, the Trojans went on an 8-0 to close the contest. After a pair of free throws by Vanessa Obafemi gave WKU a 63-48 lead, Davis hit another 3-pointer to trim the lead to 63-51 with 52 seconds remaining. The senior then converted a three-point the old fashioned way to trim the lead to 63-54 with 21 seconds remaining; before the scoring was completed by Kleeman on a lay-up with 20 seconds remaining.
The Trojans return to action Saturday afternoon on the road in Sun Belt Conference action against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. The game tips at 2 pm from, with the pregame show beginning at 1:45 pm on WTBF-94.7 FM from Earl K. Long Gymnasium. For information on attending Troy University athletic events and the Sun Belt Conference Basketball Tournament in Hot Springs, Arkansas make sure to call the Troy University Athletics Ticket Office at 1-877-878-WINS (9467).
