Trojans Take Five-Game Win Streak to Texas State

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Troy women's basketball team will look to extend its five-game winning streak on Thursday when it travels to take on Texas State at Strahan Coliseum at 5:30 p.m.

Troy (17-9, 12-5) enters the game in third place in the Sun Belt standings, 1.5 games behind second place and 1.5 games ahead of fourth-place Texas State (15-10, 10-6). With a win, Troy will tie the program record for conference wins in a season and also post a second six-game winning streak this season, something the team hasn't done twice in a season since 1979-80.

Live audio and live video will be available for Trojan All-Access subscribers at TroyTrojans.com. A link to live stats can be found on the women's basketball schedule page at TroyTrojans.com. Fans in Troy can also hear the game on WTBF 94.7 FM. To follow the action on Twitter, follow @TroyWomensBBall.

The Trojans are coming off of a 65-62 win over Sun Belt leader UALR on Saturday. Troy overcame an 11-point halftime deficit by holding UALR to 27 second-half points, including a 6-2 run after trailing 60-59 with 1:01 to go. The win snapped UALR's six-game winning streak and gave Troy a February win over the Sun Belt leader for the third straight season

Ashley Beverly-Kelley led Troy with 23 points against UALR. Combined with her 46-point performance at Georgia Southern last Thursday, Beverly-Kelley was named the Sun Belt Player of the Week and the CollegeSportsMadness.com National Mid-Major Player of the Week.

Beverly-Kelley's 46 points at Georgia Southern are still the most scored in NCAA Division I this season. The junior ranks second in the Sun Belt in overall scoring (18.0 ppg) and first in scoring in league games (20.5 ppg). She has scored 20-plus in seven of her last eight games.

Ronita Garrett had 17 points and 12 rebounds against UALR, marking her 18th double-double of the season, the most in the Sun Belt and sixth most in the NCAA. She ranks fifth in the Sun Belt in scoring (15.7 ppg) and first in rebounding (11.2 rpg, 16th in NCAA).

As a team, Troy is averaging a Sun Belt best 76.6 points per game (17th in NCAA). Troy also leads the league in assists (14.7 apg), rebounds (43.0 rpg) and steals (12.2 spg).

Troy is forcing an average of 22.8 turnovers per game and grabbing 12.2 steals per game, marks that both rank fourth in the NCAA and led the Sun Belt.

Texas State (15-10, 10-6) has not played since last Thursday when it lost, 64-41, at UL Lafayette. In that game, Texas State shot just 9-of-44 from the field (20 percent) and scored 20 of its 41 points from the free throw line. The Bobcats hit 3-of-11 from deep, just one game after hitting 11-of-24 in a win over Georgia State.

Texas State leads the Sun Belt with 6.6 made 3-pointers per game and ranks second, shooting 34.8 percent from deep. However, the Bobcats rank second to last, shooting 36.3 percent from the field overall.

Texas State leads the all-time series over Troy, 3-0, with all three meetings coming in the last two seasons since Texas State joined the Sun Belt. All three meetings have been very close, with Texas State winning by a combined 10 points. The biggest margin of victory came in the first meeting, which went into overtime before Texas State won, 87-82.

The Bobcats won this season's earlier meeting, 74-72, in Trojan Arena back on December 30. The game was the Sun Belt opener for both Troy and Texas State. Texas State is the only current Sun Belt team that Troy head coach Chanda Rigby has not beaten at least once in her three seasons as the helm of Troy.

Following Thursday's contest, the Trojans will return home to host Georgia State on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Trojan Arena. The game against the Panthers will be the final home game of the season for Troy as it will honor its four seniors (Kourtney Coleman, Garrett, Brianna Lancaster and Aissata Maiga) during halftime of the men's game, which begins at 4:15 p.m.

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

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Players Mentioned

Ashley Beverly Kelley

Kourtney Coleman

Ronita Garrett

Brianna Lancaster

Aissata Maiga