Koranga Shines, Troy Bounces Back with Win Over Arkansas State

Saturday, January 22

Troy, Ala.

4 p.m.

Troy University

14-7,5-2Sun Belt

Arkansas State

10-9,3-3Sun Belt

Arkansas St.

Troy

Koranga Shines, Troy Bounces Back with Win Over Arkansas State

1/22/2022 7:28:00 PM | Basketball (W)

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Powered by an impressive 20 points from forward Felmas Koranga, Troy bounced back and picked up a victory over Arkansas State, 79-72, to get back in the win column Saturday in Trojan Arena.

Koranga earned her sixth career 20-point game and brought down 10 boards, good for her eighth double-double of the season.

Lauryn Pendleton paced Arkansas State (10-9, 3-3 Sun Belt) with 21 points and seven rebounds.

How It Happened
The contest proved to be offense driven from the early moments as a fast break jumper from Sharonica Hartsfield put the Trojans (14-7, 5-2 Sun Belt) up 7-4 just two minutes into the matchup. With 3:44 to go, Jhileiya Dunlap pushed Troy over the 20-point mark, 22-13, with a jumper. A buzzer-beating three from Pendleton powered the Red Wolves over the 20-point mark as Troy led by five, 27-22, after the first 10 minutes.

After buckets from both sides to open the second period, a pair of makes from the charity stripe from Brianna Harris gave Troy a 10-point advantage, 34-24, with 6:39 to go, but a 12-5 run for Arkansas State over the next four minutes tied the matchup at 38 all with 2:39 left to play before halftime. A made free throw from Jasmine Robinson and a second-chance layup from Koranga in the winding minutes of the second quarter gave Troy a 41-38 lead heading into the break.

The Trojans and Red Wolves went toe-to-toe in the third period with neither side gaining more than a seven-point advantage. Mya Love gave Arkansas State a seven-point lead with 2:44 to play in the third, but that lead quickly dwindled to four after a game-changing and-one from Amber Leggett. Back-to-back makes from the free throw line by Koranga tied the matchup at 58 all, but a Red Wolf layup gave them a two-point lead heading into the final 10 minutes of action.

Leggett tied the game going coast-to-coast for a layup just 12 seconds into the fourth quarter. Troy quickly expanded its lead to eight after a 10-0 run, capped off by a Koranga jumper, stretching to the 6:45 mark. A pair of free throws from Tina Stephens gave the Trojans their largest lead of the game, 74-62, but Arkansas State cut it to eight, setting up the 79-72 final.

Quotable – Head Coach Chanda Rigby
"It feels so good to get this win today. I thought Arkansas State fought very hard; their coaching staff is doing a great job and their players play hard. It began to look really similar to what happened against Little Rock, but we started to be more aggressive on defense. We went to a zone defense, and we forced eight turnovers. That shows the determination of our players!

Notable

Amber Leggett scored all of her 13 points in the second half.
Tina Stephens also finished the game in double figures (13), going 5-for-10 from the field.
Troy shot 71.4-percent from behind the arc in the opening quarter of the game.
Arkansas State outrebounded the Trojans narrowly, 45-44. Troy improves to 5-5 when being outrebounded.

Next Up
Troy travels to the Peach State for a pair of Sun Belt matchups. The Trojans open the week at Georgia Southern on Thursday; tipoff is set for 5 p.m.