Notes: Women's Basketball Set to Host New Year's Series Against App State

TROY, Ala. – The Troy women's basketball team will ring in the New Year in a new way this weekend as it hosts Appalachian State Friday and Saturday for a two-game series. The two programs will square off in their Sun Belt opener at 6 p.m. on Friday and at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

SERIES INFORMATION
Troy (4-3, 0-0 SBC) vs App State (3-3)
Date: Jan. 1-2, 2021
Time: 6 p.m. on Friday & 4 p.m. on Saturday
Location: Troy, Ala. (Trojan Arena)
Watch: ESPN+ (Play-By-Play: Doug Amos)
Listen: troytrojans.com/watch (Play-By-Play: Dan Peck)

The Series
vs App State: Troy leads the all-time series, 10-1
When played at Troy: Troy leads, 5-1
Current streak: W8
Last meeting: W, 81-61 // Feb. 15, 2020 // Boone, N.C.
• In two games last season against App State, Jasmine Robinson averaged 14.5 points and two assists while Tyasia Moore averaged 10 points and three boards.

PICKED TO REPEAT AS CHAMPIONS
For just the second time as members of the Sun Belt Conference (2005-Pres.), Troy has been picked to repeat as League champions. Troy received nine of the possible 12 first-place votes and earned 140 points in the voting. It's nine first-place votes and 140 points are league high's since Rigby joined the Sun Belt in 2012. To go along with being picked to repeat as League champs, Troy was also selected to win the East Division.

A SWITCH TO DIVISIONS
Covid-19 has forced us all to create a new "normal" and one of those new normals is how the conference schedule and standings will be shaped. For the first time since the 2012-13 season the Sun Belt will be split into two divisions, East & West, and for the first time ever teams will play a conference schedule that only consists of its division. Troy will compete in the East division with App State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Georgia Southern and South Alabama. Teams will play four members of their division four times each with games being played on Friday's and Saturday's. Rivalry games will be played just twice in a home-and-home format, on a Thursday and Saturday of the same week.

IN CONFERENCE OPENERS
Troy has won four straight Sun Belt Conference openers and is 4-4 under head coach Chanda Rigby in the first game of the conference season. Troy is 6-8 all-time in Sun Belt openers, 15-11 in conference openers at the D1 level and 19-17 in overall conference openers

ASSISTS ARE A GOOD THING
Troy has assisted on 128 of its 232 made field goals so far this season, or 55 percent of all made field goals. It's Troy's highest assist to made field goal percentage since the 2007-08 season when it assisted on 57 percent of its made field goals. Troy is averaging 18.3 assists per game and is on pace for 452 in a shortened season

FRESHMAN DISHES & SWIPES
Sharonica Hartsfield has been one of the best point guards in the Sun Belt Conference this season. Hartsfield currently ranks 36th nationally, 2nd in the Sun Belt, for total assists (33) and 51st nationally, 2nd in the SBC, in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.75). She is averaging 4.7 assists per game. On the defensive end Hartsfield has earned 19 steals (23rd most in the country and most in the SBC) and is averaging 2.7 steals per game (50th best average in America and fifth best in the Sun Belt). She is doing it all while averaging just 15 minutes per game

DOUBLE STANDARD
Through seven games Alexus Dye is averaging a double-double with 19.6 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per game. She has recorded double-doubles in Troy's seven games and has recorded the 3rd-mostt double-doubles in America.

DON'T MISS THE FREEBIES
Janiah Sandifer set a career-high for made free throws, 8-for-8, against Martin Methodist. The senior from Nashville has now made 10 consecutive free throws dating back to Troy's game at Middle Tennessee.

SUN BELT ELITE
Since 2012 Troy has earned a 91-58 record in Sun Belt Conference games. Troy's 91 wins are the second-most, trailing only Little Rock (118-32). Rounding out the top five are: Arkansas State (90-60), UTA (79-51), Texas State (70-60). Troy has posted a winning record in every season since 2014-15 and is the only team in the conference to have been over .500 in each of the past six seasons.

VS APP STATE
Troy is 10-1 all-time against App State. The lone loss to the Mountaineers came at home back on Jan, 28, 2016, just the third meeting all-time, by a score of 81-86. Since that game Troy has won eight straight and has outscored App 703-558 (87.9 ppg to 69.8 ppg). In the 11 all-time meetings Troy has never scored less than 81 points and App has failed to score at least 70 in three-straight games and four of the last five meetings. The two teams have never played a game outside of the Sun Belt regular season. Last season Jasmine Robinson averaged 14.5 points and two assists in both games against App while Tyasia Moore averaged 10 points and three rebounds.

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Notes: Women's Basketball Set to Host New Year's Series Against App State

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Players Mentioned

Alexus Dye

Sharonica Hartsfield

Tyasia Moore

Jasmine Robinson

Janiah Sandifer

Troy University Athletics