Trojans Drop Conference Opener at Home

Wednesday, December 1

Troy, AL

7:00 p.m.

Troy University

Western Kentucky University

Photo by: Thomas Graning

12/1/2010 9:51:32 PM | Basketball (W)

Troy returns home on Saturday afternoon to face Belhaven

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score

TROY, Ala. – The Troy University women's basketball team dropped their Sun Belt Conference opener Wednesday night, falling to the Lady Toppers of WKU 78-61 at Sartain Hall. The loss ends a string of back-to-back home conference opening wins for the Trojans.

“We shot the ball really well tonight,” Troy head coach Michael Murphy said. “We were able to hit 50 percent of our shots, but the turnovers are what hurt us tonight; which is a bi-product of fatigue due to our injuries and our youth. We are still a young basketball team with room to improve, but we did some good things tonight.”

Arnika Brown led WKU (1-5, 1-0 Sun Belt), the preseason pick to win the East Division, with her 38th career double-double as she recorded 26 points and 16 rebounds – including 10 offensive rebounds. She paced four players in double figures, including LaTeira Owens and Amy McNear with 14 points each. McNear added eight assists and three rebounds in the victory. Hope Brown chipped in 12 points in the WKU victory.

“I thought Arnika was big on the boards the entire night from start to finish and Arnika wanted the ball tonight,” WKU head coach Mary Taylor Cowles said. “She was a lot more aggressive getting the ball and going to the basket, a lot of her touches came on the offensive rebounds, having ten and putting the ball back up. She was just more aggressive this evening than she was before and that's a compliment to her.”

Troy (1-6, 0-1 Sun Belt) was led by junior DeAngela Sword (Montgomery, Ala./Pensacola JC) with a career-high 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the floor. Senior Donette McNair (New London, Conn./New London HS) chipped in with 15 points and nine rebounds in the loss.

After WKU jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, the Trojans took their first lead of the contest at 10-9 before both teams started traded baskets until Troy took a 25-24 lead with 6:47 to play in the first half.

Following a Troy turnover and a made free throw, the Lady Toppers went on a 12-4 run to close out the first half of action. They were able to take a 36-29 lead into the locker room.

“We ran out of gas late in the first half,” Murphy said. “You could really see the fatigue start to set in on some of our kids that having to play extended minutes at the end of the first half. We just didn't have the depth to counteract what they were doing. Our shooting is what kept us in the ballgame. When you can shoot 50 percent against a team as well-coached as WKU, which is something you can hang your hat on.”

The Trojans came out in the second half and were able to trim the lead to 36-31, and then again to 38-33 with 18:50 remaining on a McNair layup. However, WKU opened the game up with a 16-8 run to pull away for a 52-39 advantage. From there, the visitors were able to hold Troy at bay for the conference victory.

The Trojans shot 50 (26-for-52) percent from the floor, while not connecting on a three-pointer in the contest. With the three misses from beyond the arc, a streak of 58 consecutive games with a three-pointer made – dating back to December 28, 2008. The Trojans also shot 60 (9-of-15) percent from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, WKU shot 48.6 (34-for-70) percent from the floor and 33.3 (4-of-12) percent from beyond the arc. They also shot 50 (6-for-12) percent from the free throw line and outrebounded Troy 39-30 on the night.

“Every loss is a disappointing loss,” Murphy said. “You can take different things from every loss, I thought we really did some good things tonight. I thought we played hard, I thought we executed and I thought when we did execute we got high percentage shots. I see us growing as a team, I see other people stepping up to take over some leadership responsibilities which is something we need more and more.”

The Trojans return to action Saturday afternoon against Belhaven (Miss.) University at Sartain Hall. The game is set to tip at 2 pm in Sartain Hall on the campus of Troy University.

Live stats and live video will be provided by the Troy University Athletics Media Relations Office. For ticket information, contact the Troy University Athletics Ticket Office at 1-877-87-WINS (9467).

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