Trojans Host Rival South Alabama on Thursday

TROY, Alabama – The Troy women's basketball team returns home on Thursday when it hosts rival South Alabama at Trojan Arena at 5:15 p.m. Troy faculty and staff can receive two free general admission tickets to the game by showing their school ID at the door.

Live stats, live audio and live video will be all be available through TroyTrojans.com and can be accessed through the women's basketball schedule page. Fans in Troy can also hear the game on WTBF 94.7 FM. To follow the action on Twitter, follow @TroyWomensBBall.

Troy (13-9, 8-5) is coming off of a 108-87 win at Appalachian State on Saturday. The win snapped a two-game skid and closed a season-long, three-game road stretch for Troy. It was Troy's first 100-point game of the season and the sixth in three seasons under Chanda Rigby.

Troy has scored 75-plus points in seven of its last 10 games, upping its scoring average to a Sun Belt best 76.5 points per game (20th in NCAA). Now in her third season, Rigby and the Trojans led the league in scoring in each of the first two seasons as well.

Troy currently sits in a tie for third place in the Sun Belt standings with an 8-5 conference record. With seven Sun Belt games still the play, Troy is just two wins away from tying the program record of 10 Sun Belt wins (2008-09).

In addition to its offensive numbers, Troy's pressure defense has made headlines, forcing an average of 22.8 turnovers per game and grabbing 12.0 steals per game, marks that both lead the Sun Belt and rank sixth and fifth in the NCAA, respectively.

Individually, Ronita Garrett led the Trojans at Appalachian State with a career-high 28 points. The senior forward, however, fell two rebounds shy of a double-double, snapping a streak a five straight games with a double-double. Garrett has 15 double-doubles on the season, the most in the Sun Belt and ninth most in the NCAA. She is first in the league in rebounding (10.7 rpg) and fifth in scoring (15.5 ppg).

Ashley Beverly-Kelley posted 25 points at Appalachian State, her fourth straight game of 20-plus points. The junior ranks third in the Sun Belt in scoring (16.3), ninth in assists (2.7) and second in steals (2.5), making her the only Sun Belt player in the top 10 of all three categories.

South Alabama (4-18, 1-12) comes into Thursday's game after losing three straight, including a pair of home games last week. Despite 37 points from Marquita Daniels, South Alabama lost its last game, 84-78, to Georgia State last Saturday.

The Jaguars, who are 0-10 on the road this season, rank last in the Sun Belt in scoring offense at 54.8 points per game. That is due largely to South Alabama's 20.5 turnovers per game, a mark that ranks second to last in the league. Senior guard Breanna Hall leads the Jags in scoring at 15.3 points per game on the season, but averages slightly less (13.7 ppg) in league play.

Troy is 16-19 all-time against South Alabama, including a 10-6 mark in Troy (1-1 in Trojan Arena). Troy swept last season's series and also won in the first round of the 2013 Sun Belt Championships. A win on Thursday would give Troy four straight wins in the series for the first time since winning seven straight from 1975 to 1979.

The Trojans will remain at home on Saturday when they host UL Lafayette in a 2 p.m. contest at Trojan Arena. That game will mark the first of two Play 4Kay games for Troy as the Trojans will wear pink jerseys and raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

For more information on Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter, Facebook, Instgram and YouTube by searching for Troy Athletics.

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Players Mentioned

Ashley Beverly Kelley

Ronita Garrett