Troy University Athletics
Troy University
8-8,5-1Sun Belt
Texas State
10-8,1-5Sun Belt
Women’s Basketball Captures Fifth Straight, Holds Off Texas State to Reach .500
1/18/2024 11:33:00 PM | Basketball (W)
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Troy women's basketball holds off Texas State 92-85 on Thursday night in Strahan Arena to earn its fifth straight victory in Sun Belt play and reach a .500 overall record.
For the seventh straight game, the Trojans (8-8, 5-1 SBC) defeated the Bobcats (10-8, 1-5 SBC) as they sit in second place in the league with the tiebreaker of James Madison.
Five players ended in double-digits, with Ja'Mia Hollings leading the team with 18, followed by Tai'Sheka Porchia (16), Zay Dyer (15), Makayia Hallmon (14) and Leilani Augmon (12). Shaulana Wagner led Troy in rebounds with her first 10-plus rebound game, while Sharonica Hartsfield dished a team-high seven assists.
Ja'Niah Henson scored 21 of her 27 points in the first half, ended with five triples, and shot 8-of-18 from the field. Jaylin Foster neared 20 with a 19-point performance on 6-of-9 from the field. Texas State shot an elite 17-of-18 from the charity stripe as a team.
Tight Contest
The fourth quarter had Troy open hot as it pushed the advantage to 16, 83-67, as Porchia made the tip-in layup with 6:11 remaining.
Texas State battled back over the next 3:06 as it continued to convert from the charity stripe. Tiffany Tullis converted both at the line to cut the Troy lead to four, 84-80.
Dyer aimed to push Troy's advantage back to seven as she drew back-to-back fouls to go 3-of-4 from the line, 87-80 with 2:01 left. A bucket by Morgan Hill, followed by a triple from Foster off a Troy turnover, made it a 2-point game, 87-85, with 0:57 left.
For the third game of 2023-24, the Trojans showed up late at the free throw line. First, Wagner drew the foul with 0:35 and converted both, 89-85. Then, Henson failed to make a 3-pointer and Hollings grabbed the rebound, drew the foul and made one to put the game to two possessions, 90-85, with 0:19 left. Henson tried one more time from deep but couldn't convert again and Hollings put it away with another pair at the line.
Accelerate Through
Troy started slow as Texas State opened up to a 9-0 advantage through the opening 2:06 as Jaylin Foster scored the lay-in.
Wagner broke through for Troy at the 2:17 mark with a layup off the Porchia assist, 9-2. That flipped the script for the Trojans as they scored 13 straight to seize the 13-9 lead off a lay-in for Dyer with 4:55 remaining.
The Bobcats brought the Troy lead to one with a 6-2 run that ended with 4:21 left with a lay-in by Crystal Smith. However, a Porchia layup and Nia Daniel triple responded to push the advantage back to six, 20-14, at the 3:38 mark.
Both sides went back and forth before Hallmon drew the 3-point foul with 2:55 remaining and drained all three. Those free throws opened an 11-2 run to end the quarter with a 12-point advantage, 33-21.
Head Coach Chanda Rigby
"It's never easy to win on the road, but I'm grateful we got the victory. We let things get interesting. They got out to a hot 9-0 start, but we fought back and got a huge run of our own. We got to start games out with more determination and discipline. But at the end, we hit the huge free throws and had people come off the bench and get huge rebounds and buckets. So, there is a lot to be proud about. They forced us to make adjustments and we pulled out, trapping them for the first time in months. Our players adjusted well. We have a hard place to go next in the Cajundome, so we need to be humble and hungry."
Four Straight
• There was only one lead change in the game despite the tough contest at the 3:51 mark off a second-chance layup from Hartsfield, 11-9.
• Dyer scored in double-figures for the third straight game with 15 points on 6-of-10 from the field and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.
• Troy won for the first time this season despite allowing the opposition to shoot above 45 percent from the field.
• Augmon shot 3-of-4 from the field to score double figures (12) for the first time in her Trojan career.
• Despite the 9-0 drought to start, Troy would outscore Texas State 33-12 over the next 6:09 with seven players entering the scoring column.
Onto the Bayou
The next stop for Troy women's basketball sits in Lafayette, La., in the Cajundome for the second matchup against Louisiana on Saturday at 2 p.m.
