Trojans Come up Short in Home Finale

Saturday, February 19

Troy, AL

5:15 p.m.

Troy University

Arkansas State University

Photo by: Troy University

2/19/2011 8:53:29 PM | Basketball (W)

Troy fought to overtime, but couldn’t overcome Arkansas State

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score

TROY, Ala. – A trio of players scored in double figures for the Troy University women on Saturday night, but it wasn't enough as the Trojans fell 83-69 in overtime to Arkansas State in Sun Belt Conference action.

“Obviously I am pleased with the way my team played tonight,” Troy head coach Michael Murphy said. “I thought we played exceptionally hard for 40 minutes and I thought we did some things well tonight. We got good production off our bench, especially from freshman Brooke Bowie.

But I have to give a lot of credit to Arkansas State for overtime. They really took to us after Donette fouled out; we really had no answer for them offensively. That was the game when she fouled out.”

The game was the home finale for the Trojans, and the final home in the career of senior Donette McNair (New London, Conn./New London HS), who finished with a team-high 19 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out at the end of regulation. The double-double marked the ninth time this season that McNair has recorded a double-double.

“Anytime she is on the floor, the other team has to worry about where she is,” Murphy said. “When she is out it takes an offensive presence off the floor. It opens up some perimeter shooters for us, and we can kick it out if we need to. So without her in the game, they can extend their defense and put a lot more pressure on the ball. They took away our shooters, more so in the overtime period than in the second half.”

Meanwhile, freshman Brooke Bowie (Winter Park, Fla./Lake Howell HS) finished with a career-high 13 points off the bench, while junior DeAngela Sword (Montgomery, Ala./Pensacola JC) finished with 13 points. Sophomore point guard Sophie Kleeman (Newcastle, Australia/Newcastle HS) played in ninth consecutive 40-plus minute game of the season; she has now played 561 out of a possible 565 minutes in Sun Belt Conference games this season.

Arkansas State (13-14, 7-7 Sun Belt) was led by Shania Hurst with 28 points, while Meghan Lewis added 21. Two other players finished in double figures for the Red Wolves, Sherina Scott and Quinishia McDowell each added 13 in the victory.

The Trojans had their chance at the end of regulation.

After leading for much of the second half, the Trojans fought back from a 60-all tie to take a 65-61 lead behind a pair of free throws by McNair and a three-pointer from Sword with 2:50 remaining in the contest. Arkansas State trimmed the lead to 65-64 on a Hurst three-pointer with 2:19 to play.

Troy pushed the lead back to three at 67-64 with 1:36 to play, before Arkansas State scored the final three points of regulation with 29 seconds remaining to tie the game at 67-all. The Trojans had one final chance to win the game in regulation as Kleeman missed a three-pointer with less than two seconds remaining on the clock.

“We had a good look in the last second,” Murphy said. “I thought Sophie's shot was going in. It looked like it rattled in and out.”

Arkansas State outscored Troy 16-2 in the overtime period to pull away for the victory.

Troy (5-22, 2-12 Sun Belt) led Arkansas State 35-29 at the half, behind the play of McNair's 13 first half points. After falling behind 11-6 in the early stages of the first half, the Trojans stormed back to tie the game at 13-all on a strength of a 7-2 run over a span of four minutes. Arkansas State went on their 5-0 run, before Troy came back to the game at 20-all with seven minutes remaining in the half.

From there, the two teams traded baskets until Troy took a 31-29 lead with two minutes remaining on a Bowie three-pointer. They finished off the half with a pair of free throws from McNair and a jumper from Kleeman.

The Trojans return to action next week on the road, facing Florida Atlantic on Wednesday evening at 6 pm (EST).

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