Troy Opens Season at Florida State

GAME NOTES

TROY, Alabama – The Troy women's basketball program opens the 2018-19 season on the road against Florida State on Tuesday at 10 a.m..

It will be Field Trip Day inside Tucker Center with 1,500 children expected to attend. The programs have faced off four times previously with each taking two wins.

Troy enters the season eying its third Sun Belt Conference championship in four seasons after falling in the semifinals of the league tournament last season. The Trojans return 83 percent of its offense from a year ago and gain two transfers with DI experience in Tyra Johnson (Auburn) and Jasmine LeBlanc (Louisiana Tech).

Preseason All-Sun Belt selections Kayla Robinson, Sky'Lynn Holmes and Amber Rivers are expected to lead the way. The trio combined to average 37.5 points per game and 18.8 rebounds per game last season pacing the Trojans to its fourth straight season of 18 or more wins.

HOW TO FOLLOW
Tip: 10 a.m. (CT)
Video: ACC Network Extra
Audio: TroyTrojans.com/Watch
Radio: WTBF
Live Stats: TroyStats.com

SERIES INFO
Overall: Tied, 2-2
            At Troy: Troy leads, 1-0
            At Tallahassee: FSU leads, 2-0
            Neutral: Troy leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: Dec. 29, 2003 – FSU won, 80-42 (at Tallahassee, Fla.)

ABOUT THE OPPONENT
The Seminoles are looking to make a run at a fifth consecutive year of finishing in the Top four in the ACC and earning a double-bye in the conference tournament. They join only Notre Dame and Louisville among ACC teams whom have won 75 percent or more of their conference games in each of the last four seasons.

Kiah Gillespie will play a big part in helping the Seminoles maintain as a Top 10 national program. The native of Meriden, Conn., is an inside-out talent who was a 2015 McDonald's All-American out of Capital Prep Magnet. Her last game action was on March 19, 2017, and she possesses a lot of offensive capability to help lead the Seminoles.

Four letterwinners return from last year's team in junior guards Nicki Ekhomu and Nausia Woolfolk, redshirt sophomore forward Iho Lopez and sophomore guard Savannah Wilkinson. Ekhomu is FSU's leading returning scorer from a season ago at 10.1 points per game, and also averaged an impressive 5.6 rebounds from the back court.

NOTEWORTHY
• After losing just three seniors, Troy returns 83 percent of its offensive output from 2017-18. Leading the way are All-Sun Belt selections Amber Rivers (13.9 ppg) and Kayla Robinson (13.1).

• The Trojans led the Sun Belt Conference in scoring for the sixth consecutive season averaging 81.9 points per game last season.

• Head coach Chanda Rigby enters the season with 99 wins as a Trojan. Rigby won her 500th career game (high school and junior college included) last year with a 130-50 win over Montevallo.

For more information on Troy women's basketball, visit TroyTrojans.com or follow the team on Twitter at @TroyTrojansWBB.

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Players Mentioned

Sky'Lynn Holmes

Tyra Johnson

Jasmine LeBlanc

Amber Rivers

Kayla Robinson

Troy University Athletics