Trojans Fall to Second Half WKU Offensive Surge

Saturday, February 11

Troy, Ala.

4:00 p.m.

Troy University

Western Kentucky University

Photo by: Edward Fieder

Trojans Fall to Second Half WKU Offensive Surge

2/11/2012 6:32:00 PM | Basketball (W)

Troy women's basketball fell to WKU 59-36 on Saturday.

By: Ben Maxwell

Box Score | Game Recap

Troy, Ala. – Troy women's basketball was unable to overcome a second half WKU offensive surge as they fell 59-36 to the Lady Toppers on Saturday.

“We just struggled offensively in the second half,” head coach Michael Murphy said.

“We didn't do what we needed to do offensively. Having Sword out hurt us; there were many times tonight where I thought she could have really helped us. Anytime you lose your leading scorer while you're struggling to score makes it really tough.”

Junior Sophie Kleeman took over for the injured DeAngela Sword leading her team in scoring for the second time this season with 11 total points. She also hit 210 career assists in the first half tying her with Heather Haney (1993-97) for eighth place in school history for career assists. Tenia Manuel led her team in rebounding for the 15th time this season with six total rebounds.

The Trojans were unable to stop Danay Fothergill and LaTeira Owens who both broke double figures for WKU. Fothergill led her team with 15 points while Owens was close behind with 12.

Troy (2-20, 1-10 Sun Belt) took demand of the contest early with an 8-2 point run over WKU (6-17, 3-8) to give the Trojans a 10-5 lead. Troy maintained their lead for the first 12 minutes but fell behind late in the first half to head into halftime trailing the Lady Toppers 24-22.

In the second half WKU increased their lead early with a 12-3 point run in the first six minutes to give them a 36-25 lead. Troy would only total 14 points in the second half to give the Lady Toppers a 59-36 victory.

The Trojans were unable to hit a shot from behind the 3-point arc for the first time since playing Furman University earlier this season.

“We just have to come back Monday ready to go and move on to the next game,” Murphy said.

Troy will now prepare to hit the road when they travel to Jonesboro, Arkansas to take on the Arkansas State Red Wolves on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 7 pm.