Trojans Fall to Hampton at Georgia State Invitational

Wednesday, December 29

Atlanta, GA

4:00 p.m. (EST)

Troy University

Hampton University

Photo by: Troy University

Trojans Fall to Hampton at Georgia State Invitational

12/29/2010 7:17:11 PM | Basketball (W)

Troy has lost five consecutive games, and seven of their last eight, while dressing just nine players

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score

ATLANTA – Dressing only nine players, the Troy University women's basketball team fell behind early on Wednesday afternoon and were unable to recover, falling 61-43 to Hampton University in the opening round of the Georgia State Invitational.

Junior DeAngela Sword (Montgomery, Ala./Pensacola JC) led the Trojans with 16 points, as she was the only player in double figures. Meanwhile, senior Donette McNair (New London, Conn./New London HS) recorded team-high eight rebounds just hours after arriving in Atlanta due to the blizzard in the northeast.

Quanneisha Perry led Hampton with 15 points and 17 rebounds, as she was one of two players to record a double-double on the night. Choicetta McMillian added 10 points and 10 rebounds in the win, while Jericka Jenkins scored 13 and Melanie Warner added 11 points in the win.

The Trojans struggled offensively from the floor, but forced Hampton into a bad shooting night as well as they held the Pirates to just 30.3 (23-for-76) percent shooting from the floor. They also held the Pirates to just 22.7 (5-of-22) percent shooting from beyond the arc in the loss.

“I thought for the most part we played really hard tonight,” head coach Michael Murphy said. “Defensively we did a pretty good job of forcing them to take tough shots. Anytime you hold a team to 30 percent shooting from the floor and 27 percent from behind the three-point line, you know you are doing your job in the half court defense.”

Meanwhile, the Trojans shot just 34.7 (17-for-49) percent from the floor and 38.5 (5-for-13) percent from beyond the arc. They also shot just 36.4 (4-for-11) percent from the free throw line in the loss. The Trojans also were forced into 22 turnovers, while being outrebounded for just the fifth time this season, 53-38.

“We just struggled to score tonight and we let their pressure get to us a little bit,” Murphy said. “The first half we committed 17 turnovers and just five in the second half, so we made the adjustments we needed to make. We got the shots we wanted out of offense, we just didn't connect. When you struggle to shoot the basketball, you just put so much pressure on your defense that it really makes it almost impossible.

“But I really like our effort, I like our defensive effort and it was a good team defensive night. We just didn't get the job done on the offensive end, and hopefully we can take care of that tomorrow.”

Both teams struggled to score their first basket, as Hampton scored the first points on a jumper by Perry with 16:39 to play in the opening half. The Trojans would not score their first basket until 14:12 to play in the half when freshman Dominique Ross (Covington, Tenn./Covington HS) hit a jumper off the bench.

Troy closed to within 7-5 with 11:48 to play in the half, before Hampton went on a 15-6 run to take a 25-13 lead with 3:37 to play in the first half. The Trojans had their chances late in the first half, and had a chance to pull within 10 at intermission before Delia Brunson stole a pass and converted in for a lay-up with just 10 seconds remaining to give Hampton a 30-16 lead at the intermission.

In the second half, the Trojans were able to pull within 30-19 before Hampton could get on the board. They also pulled to within 11 points on five different occasions, but Hampton had an answer to every run that Troy produced and were able to pull away late for the victory.

The Trojans drop to the consolation game where they will face Mississippi Valley State University, a loser to Georgia State on Wednesday afternoon. The two teams will tip at 2 pm (EST) at the GSU Sports Arena, with the pregame show beginning at 1:45 pm (EST) on WTBF-94.7 FM.

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