Troy Women’s Basketball Championship Bound After Defeating Little Rock

Sunday, March 6

Pensacola, Fla.

11:30 a.m.

Troy University

24-7,13-2Sun Belt

Little Rock

17-10,8-4Sun Belt

Little Rock

Troy

Troy Women’s Basketball Championship Bound After Defeating Little Rock

3/6/2022 3:05:00 PM | Basketball (W)

Box Score Postgame Press Conference

By: Troy Athletics Communications

PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Troy Women's Basketball squad utilized a second-half surge to down the No. 5 seed Little Rock, 62-59, and advance into the Sun Belt Tournament Championship for the second straight season Sunday at the Pensacola Bay Center.

The Trojans (24-7, 13-2 Sun Belt) will battle for the three-peat Monday after outscoring Little Rock (17-10, 8-4 Sun Belt) 22-12 in the third period.

For the second consecutive contest, Jhileiya Dunlap led the Trojans after tallying 18 points. Amber Leggett followed Dunlap with 13 points.

Little Rock's Sali Kourouma paced the way and led all scorers with 27 points; however, the Trojans limited her to just nine points in the second half.

How It Happened
The final Battle of the Trojans proved to be a gritty contest from the beginning, with just one point separating the two teams after the opening period. With the game tied 8-8 at the 4:28 mark, a pair of triples from Little Rock gave them a 13-12 advantage at the end of the opening 10 minutes.

Kourouma opened the second quarter leading an 8-1 run for Little Rock to gain a six-point lead, 18-12, with 7:53 left the play. After a Trojan make, Kourouma gave Little Rock its largest lead of the second quarter off a jumper, 28-17, with 4:24 left to play. Needing an offensive push, Troy rallied behind a booming Trojan Nation crowd to close out the quarter on a 9-2 stretch and cut the deficit to four, 30-26, at the break.

Troy's halftime energy continued coming out of the break, opening up on a 7-2 run and regaining the lead, 33-32, with 8:32 to play in the third period. Little Rock and Troy remained within a point of each other until Jasmine Robinson and Dunlap made a pair of jumpers to give Troy its first multi-possession lead since the first quarter. A made free throw from Dunlap in the final seconds of the third saw Troy up 48-42 heading into the final 10 minutes of action.

Troy and Little Rock continued to battle toe-to-toe through the opening eight minutes of the final frame with Troy's lead never advancing above eight points. After Tina Stephens hit a free throw to give Troy a five-point advantage, Little Rock's Raziya Porter made the bucket and free throw after an and-one with 1:24 to go to cut it to a one possession game, 61-59. A pair of timeouts and missed shots from both sides forced Little Rock to foul with under six seconds to go, allowing Troy to ice the game away.

Quotable – Head Coach Chanda Rigby
"We are really happy to be here after such a tight game. Little Rock had a great game plan. All year, Felmas Koranga has been a go-to player for us, but they triple teamed her. Jhileiya Dunlap came off the bench today and refused to lose. She stepped up in big ways, and I am very proud of her. Amber Leggett came up huge late in the game with some crucial rebounds for us. We dominated the boards in the second half, and that was the difference."

Notable

Coming into the contest, only Troy and Little Rock had represented the Sun Belt Conference in the NCAA Tournament over the last eight seasons.
Behind Troy's two double figure scorers, three Trojans finished with seven or more points to help power Troy to victory – Jasmine Robinson (9), Janiah Sandifer (7) and Tina Stephens (7).
After being tied in rebounds at the half, Troy outrebounded Little Rock 26-15 in the second half.

Next Up
Troy will square off against the winner of UT Arlington and Louisiana in the Sun Belt Tournament Championship tomorrow. Tipoff from the Pensacola Bay Center is set for 1 p.m.