Troy University Athletics
Trojans Look To End Skid At Home
2/12/2010 8:00:00 PM | Basketball (W)
TROY, Ala. - The Troy University women's basketball team looks to end a four-game losing streak Saturday afternoon, hosting FIU at Trojan Arena. The game has been moved to 4 pm to accommodate the men's game on television Saturday night.
Troy (11-12, 4-9 Sun Belt) will look to end a skid that includes three consecutive road games, and a streak that is their longest since last January. The Trojans and FIU have met one time this season, with the Trojans capturing a 61-59 victory FIU at US Century Bank Arena in Miami.
The game can be heard on WTBF-94.7 FM, with the pregame show beginning at 3:45 pm with Travis Jarome and Ben Stanfield bringing you all of the action.
The game is just one of just three remaining home games on the schedule for the Trojans, and one of just five remaining on the regular season schedule. For more information on how you can follow the Trojans to the conference tournament in Hot Springs, Arkansas contact the Troy University Athletics Ticket Office at 1-877-878-WINS (9467) or order your tickets online through TroyTrojans.com.
THE BASICS . . . Troy (11-12, 4-9 Sun Belt) is looking to end a four-game losing streak that includes three consecutive losses ... The Trojans have lost seven of the their last eight games this season, including going just 1-2 at home during that streak ... The four-game losing streak matches the longest streak since losing four straight from January 14 to January 24 of last season ... The streak of seven of eight losses matches the longest streak since January 17 to February 16 of 2007-08, when the Trojans lost nine of 10 games ... The Trojans have lost seven of their 12 games this season by seven points or less, and six by five points or less ... Junior Donette McNair continues to lead the Trojans, averaging a double-double over the last
week and is averaging 13.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game this season
... Senior Brittnie Davis, who recorded 20 or more points for three consecutive games this season is averaging 12.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game; while also leading the team in steals with 44 ... No other player is averaging more than nine points per game this season for the Trojans, although they have three other players averaging 7.9 or more points on the year ... Meanwhile, FIU (12-13, 7-7 Sun Belt) is making a charge up the Sun Belt Conference standings ... The Golden Panthers were once one game behind Troy just three weeks ago, but have surged to three games ahead of the Trojans in the win column heading into the game on Saturday afternoon ... Elisa Carey dominated for FIU in their lost contest, scoring the final 12 points of the game for the Golden Panthers in their victory over South Alabama Wednesday night ... The game has been moved to 4 pm to accommodate the men's game on television beginning at 7:08 pm ... The game can be heard on WTBF-94.7 FM with Travis Jarome (play-by-play) and Ben Stanfield (color analyst) providing the action.
THE COACHES . . . Troy head coach Michael Murphy is in his eighth season at the helm of the Trojans and is the second-winningest coach in school history ... He is just the second coach in school history to record 100 or more victories at the institution, and helped with the transition from the Atlantic Sun Conference to the Sun Belt Conference five seasons ago ... Murphy has recorded a 102-122 record at Troy and is 174-145 overall in 10 seasons as a head coach ... FIU's Cindy Russo is the dean of Sun Belt Conference coaches, as she is in her 30th season at the helm of the Golden Panthers ... The Old Dominion graduate has recorded a 589-299 record at the school and is 629-321 overall in 32 years of coaching.
A WIN WOULD . . . End a four-game losing streak for the Trojans ... Give the team their first win in the month of February this season ... Be just the second win the last nine games for the Trojans ... Be the third consecutive victory over FIU for the Trojans.
A LOSS WOULD . . . Be the fifth consecutive loss for the Trojans, the longest in two years ... Would pull within the Trojans to two games with FIU in the win column ... Be the fourth consecutive February loss this season for the Trojans.
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE . . . Junior Donette McNair has averaged a double-double over the last weeks of action for the Trojans, recording a double-double in two of the five games ... She narrowly missed a double-double against Middle Tennessee and then again against Longwood on Wednesday night ... She is nearly averaging a double-double in conference play, and if she gets to that feat she will just the third person in the league to average one - joining Middle Tennessee's Alysha Clark and WKU's Arnika Brown.
PERFECT SEASON . . . Two Trojans have played and started every game this season ... Seniors Brittnie Davis and Alyce Shearing have stepped up to the plate in their final season of competition and played every single game, although both have been injured at some point during the year ... Only five other players have played in every game this season for the Trojans - Donette McNair (21 starts), Sophie Kleeman (19 starts), Sarah McAppion (five starts), Tenia Manuel (five starts) and Cortney Hawkins (two starts).
DISASTER AVERTED . . . For the second time this season, the Trojans were in danger of not hitting a 3-pointer in a contest ... Sophomore Kirsten Smith connected on a 3-pointer just past the midway point of the second half for the only three of the night for the Trojans against Longwood ... The only other time this season was against North Texas when Sarah McAppion drained a 3-pointer from the right wing late in the contest.
STREAK STAYS ALIVE . . . The Trojans have connected on a 3-pointer in 46 straight games dating back to December of last season ... The last time the Trojans did not hit a 3-pointer in a game was against Middle Tennessee on the road December 20, 2008 ... The Trojans missed connecting on a 3-pointer in two games last season (Kennesaw State was the other), but connected on one in their last 21 games of last season and the first 23 of this season.
MCNAIR STREAK ALIVE . . . Junior Donette McNair kept her own personal streak alive as she has scored in the last 29 consecutive games for the Trojans - the longest such streak on the team ... She has also grabbed a rebound at least one rebound in each of the last 53 games of her career ... The last time McNair did not grab a rebound was against Middle Tennessee on March 8, 2008.
NON-CONFERENCE FINISHED . . . The Trojans ended their non-conference schedule against Longwood on Wednesday night, finishing their non-conference portion of their schedule with a 7-3 record overall, tying for the best winning percentage for a Troy team in non-conference play in the last eight seasons ... The previous mark was set in 2006-07 when the Trojans went 7-3 in non-conference play ... The seven victories was the tied for the most in non-conference play for the Trojans under head coach Michael Murphy since he took over eight seasons ago ... The mark tied the seven wins the Trojans recorded in 2007-08, when they recorded a 7-4 overall mark in conference play - winning two regular season tournaments along the way - and in 2006-07 when the Trojans went 7-3 overall in non-conference play ... This season, the Trojans went 4-0 in non-conference games played at home, while going 3-3 in games played on the road in non-conference action.
TOP 12 OVERALL . . . Junior Donette McNair is just one of five players listed in the top 12 in both scoring and rebounding in the Sun Belt Conference ... She joins Middle Tennessee's Alysha Clark, UALR's Chastity Reed, Denver's Kaetlyn Murdoch and FIU's Elisa Carey ... McNair is currently 12th in the conference in scoring and third overall in rebounding.
TWO TROJANS AMONG LEAGUES BEST SCORERS . . . Junior Donette McNair and senior Brittnie Davis are among the elite of the conference in scoring this season ... McNair is currently 12th in the conference in scoring, while Davis stands at 15th ... In the top 15 in the conference, only two other teams have multiple players listed among the leaders ... Both Middle Tennessee and Denver each have three players represented among the top 15 scorers in the conference.
DISHING THEM OUT . . . Freshman Sophie Kleeman has contributed at least two assists in 15 straight games for the Trojans while running the point ... The last time she did not register at least two assists in a game came against New Orleans at home on December 19, 2009 ... She has reocrded at least one assists in 21 of the 23 games she has played in this season, with the only other game being shut out was against Longwood at home November 24, 2009 - a game in which she came off the bench.
BIGGEST COMEBACK OF THE SEASON . . . When the Trojans took the lead midway through the second half against Longwood, it set the record for the largest deficit overcome this season ... The Trojans trailed by as many as 21 points in the first half, before trimming it to 12 at the half and taking the lead in the second half.
CONTINUING TO CLIMB . . . Junior Donette McNair now stands eighth on the all-time list at the school in rebounding during the Division I era, with 456 total rebounds ... She just passed Samantha Tomlinson and has her sites set on Valensia Hairston who has 476 total rebounds ... She could possibly move as high as sixth (Amy Lewis - 504) before the season is over and ultimately has her sites set on Mandee Armstrong and her record 717 total rebounds from 1993 to 1997.
ALL-TIME SEASON MARK IN SITES . . . Junior Donette McNair has the record for rebounding in a single-season in her sites ... The record is 256 by LaShunya Johnson, set in 1994-95; and currently McNair has 221 currently - just 35 off the record with five games to play in the regular season ... If the season ended today, McNair would finish the season with the seventh-best output - bettering her mark of 219 set last season.
SECOND-BEST DAY . . . The Trojans 89.3 percent shooting day from the free throw line against Longwood was their second-best this season ... It fell just short of the 100 percent day the Trojans had against Army (15-of-15) on January 4, 2010.
STEAL AWAY THE MOMENTS . . . Senior Brittnie Davis continues to record steals at steady pace ... She has recorded 44 this season and has 87 for her career - recording one more steal this season than she had in her career previous to the start of the season.
BLOCK PARTY . . . Senior Alyce Shearing leads the team with 16 blocks this season and is ninth all-time at the school, passing teammate Donette McNair.
