Women's Basketball Bounces Back For Big Road Win Over Georgia Southern

Saturday, February 6

Statesboro, Ga.

3 p.m.

Troy University

12-5,8-2Sun Belt

Georgia Southern

8-9,4-6Sun Belt

Troy

Ga. Southern

Women's Basketball Bounces Back For Big Road Win Over Georgia Southern

2/6/2021 6:34:00 PM | Basketball (W)

Box Score

By: Troy Athletics Communications

STATESBORO, Ga. – The Troy women's basketball team bounced back in a big way on Saturday, earning a hard fought, 92-83 victory on the road at Georgia State. The win is Troy's 12th of the season and eighth in the Sun Belt Conference.

A trend is becoming clear in the Sun Belt Conference, the second game of the back-to-backs are going to be different than the first game of the weekend series. After both Troy (12-5, 8-2 SBC) and Georgia Southern (8-9, 4-6 SBC) shot over 48 percent on Friday, the two teams each shot 34 percent on Saturday. The big difference on the floor was the play on Troy's guards, who combined to score 58 of the teams 92 points.

Leading the way for Troy was Janiah Sandifer who had a game-high 21 followed by Jasmine Robinson who followed up her career best 33 points on Friday with another 20 on Saturday. Alexys Dye recorded her ninth straight double-double, 14th of the season, with 19 boards and 11 points. Felmas Koranga earned her seventh double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. The Eagles were led by true freshman Terren Ward who followed up last night's career-high 17 points with a new career-high 20 on Saturday.

"I think this was a defining game for us," head coach Chanda Rigby said. "We talked about it's how we come back from that loss on Friday. It's not like this was an easy team to comeback and beat. Georgia Southern fought every single play and they are very talented. We had to execute at a perfect level on every play of the game to get a lead. I'm so proud of this team. They walked in here today with their heads up like champions instead of like they were coming off a loss yesterday."

How It Happened
After scoring 33 points in the first quarter on Friday, Troy only scored 17 points in the first on Saturday. Midway through the first neither team was able to score a bucket as Troy suffered a four-and-a-half-minute stretch without a field goal. Koranga ended the drought that seemed to spark the Trojans.

Following Koranga's bucket, Troy went on to score the final six points of the first while opening the second 16-6 run to grow their lead to 13 points. After Troy's big run neither team was able to swing any momentum their way. The teams traded baskets for the final six minutes with Georgia Southern outscoring Troy 14-13 during that stretch.

Out of the locker room it seemed as though Georgia Southern is poised to grab its Friday night magic and mount another comeback. The Eagles opened the third on a 16-9 run, cutting the Trojan lead to eight. But similar to Friday, Robinson began to put the Trojans on her back, scoring four of Troy final six
points in the third and giving Troy a double-digit lead going into the fourt.

In the final frame Robinson got things start with three straight free throws followed by a Tyasia Moore layup. After the Eagles made a pair of layups to get the deficit back to 10, Troy scored seven straight to put the game out of reach with a 17-point advantage before ultimately closing the door with a 92-83 win and splitting the weekend series with Georgia Southern.

Who Stood Out
Janiah Sandifer had a career-high 21 points on Saturday behind 3-of-6 shooting from behind-the-arc and 10-of-13 shooting from the charity stripe. She scored 13 of her 21 in the second half. Sandifer ended the night with three rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Quoting Coach Rigby
On Robinson's Senior Leadership
"It's priceless. The coaches say all the time that if our point guards play well then, we play well. Of course, we depend a lot on our posts, but our point guards need to play well and Jasmine is finding her groove at the right time for sure."

On Sandifer's big night
"I'm so extremely proud of her. Not only did she lead the team in points scored, but she also led the team in defensive effort and defensive effectiveness, which she does every single night. I just can't say enough about what she means to our team."

Notables
• Troy now leads the all-time series against Ga. Southern 18-3
• The Trojans are 3-3 on the road this season
• Troy is now 5-0 in game-two of the Sun Belt back-to-back's
• Five Trojans scored in double-digits: Sandifer (21), Robinson (20), Johnson (15), Koranga (12) and Dye (11)
• Robinson recorded a team-high five assists. IT's the fifth time this season with at least five dimes
• Dye tied a career-high with two blocked shots and four steals
• Of Troy's 92 points, only 13 were scored by its bench

Up Next
Rivalry week is upon us with Troy and South Alabama meeting twice in the upcoming week. Troy will host South on Thursday inside Trojan Arena at 6 p.m. before traveling to Mobile on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tipoff in the final regular season meeting between the two programs.

Schedule Update
Troy's Feb. 16 game at Georgia State has been updated once again. Troy and Georgia State have agreed to move the game time up three hours to 1 p.m. (CT).

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