Troy Dominates Coastal Carolina, Advances to Sun Belt Tournament Semifinals

Friday, March 4

Pensacola, Fla.

11:30 a.m.

Troy University

23-7,13-2Sun Belt

Coastal Carolina

15-11,4-9Sun Belt

Coastal Carolina

Troy

Troy Dominates Coastal Carolina, Advances to Sun Belt Tournament Semifinals

3/4/2022 3:15:00 PM | Basketball (W)

Box Score Postgame Press Conference Photo Gallery

By: Troy Athletics Communications

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Powered by a career-high 20 points from Jhileiya Dunlap, Troy dominated the No. 9 seed Coastal Carolina, 99-77, to advance to the Sun Belt Tournament Semifinals Friday at the Pensacola Bay Center.

Dunlap posted a career-high 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting to lead the Trojans (23-7, 13-2 Sun Belt). The senior recorded the 20-piece in just 13 minutes of action.

Senior Janiah Sandifer added 11 points and six assists. The six assists match her career-high set during the 2020-21 season against Coastal Carolina

Coastal Carolina's (15-11, 4-9 Sun Belt) Aja Blount paced the way with 22 points and six rebounds.

How It Happened
Despite opening up on a 4-0 run, the Trojans found themselves locked in a battle through the opening 10 minutes of the contest. Back-to-back layups from Amber Leggett gave Troy a 9-6 advantage at the media timeout, but Coastal Carolina's Janae Camp quickly answered with a pair of buckets that gave the Chanticleers a 10-9 lead at the opening media timeout. After trading buckets through the remaining four minutes, a made free throw from Camp gave Coastal Carolina a 18-17 lead after one.

The story quickly flipped in the second quarter, where Troy outscored the Chanticleers 29-16. Felmas Koranga opened up a 10-0 Trojan run at the 6:01 mark with a layup, and Troy never looked back. Za'Nautica Downs capped off the quarter with a triple to finish off another 10-3 run that gave Troy a 46-34 lead at the half.

The Chanticleers managed to chip away at Troy's lead after halftime, utilizing a 9-3 run, to bring the deficit to four at the 7:46 mark. However, a pair of makes from the charity stripe by Tina Stephens sparked a 9-0 run for the Trojans.

Troy saw its first 20-point lead of the game with 2:47 to go in the third period after a layup by Dunlap increased the lead to 69-48. Coastal Carolina chiseled the lead back below to 20 points, but a pair of free throws from Downs gave the Trojans a 74-55 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

A layup from Jasmine Robinson with 5:19 to play gave Troy its largest lead of the game at 25, 88-63. Jelissa Reese tallied her first points of the season after rebounding from an ACL tear with 58 seconds to play, to close the 99-77 Troy victory.

Quotable – Head Coach Chanda Rigby
"We're thrilled to be advancing to the semifinals. The first game of the tournament is often the toughest, especially when you're coming off of a bye and facing a team that won the previous day. In the first half, we struggled to find a rhythm and couldn't get a big lead. I'm glad that we were able to make adjustments at halftime. Coastal is so big and physical up front, so I'm very proud of the effort. Our bench was also important today. We got into some foul trouble in the first half and were forced to play Tiyah Johnson at point guard because of it, which is scary to have happen in a tournament. I cannot say enough about Jhileiya Dunlap. She had a huge game. She wants to win so badly and it was nice to see her score the way she did tonight."

Notable

Felmas Koranga earned her 15^th double-double of the season after posting 11 points and 12 rebounds.
The Trojans finished the game with four players in double figures – Jhileiya Dunlap (20), Tina Stephens (14), Felmas Koranga (11) and Janiah Sandifer (11).
With both Troy point guards in foul trouble, Tiyah Johnson played the majority of the second quarter as point guard for the first time in her career.
Amber Leggett finished the game shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor.

Next Up
The Trojans will return to action for Sunday's semifinals against the winner of Appalachian State and Little Rock. Tipoff from the Pensacola Bay Center is set for 11:30 a.m.