Troy University Athletics
Troy University
4-8,1-1Sun Belt
Georgia Southern
11-3,1-1Sun Belt
Tai’Sheka Porchia Ices Georgia Southern
1/4/2024 8:59:00 PM | Basketball (W)
STATESBORO, Ga. – With ice in her veins, Tai'Sheka Porchia ensured history didn't repeat itself as she hit a pair of critical free throws with 0:06 left to propel Troy women's basketball to its first conference win, 74-71, over Georgia Southern in the Hanner Fieldhouse.
On top of their first conference win, the Trojans (4-8, 1-1 SBC) also put an end to the Soaring Eagles' (11-3, 1-1 SBC) nine-game winning streak and improved head coach Chanda Rigby's record over Georgia Southern to 19-1.
Porchia produced a season-high 24 points on 9-of-13 from the field and 6-of-11 from the charity stripe. A quick start where she scored the first nine points for Troy ended with Makayia Hallmon scoring 16, followed by Nia Daniel with 12. Outside the scoring column, Shaulana Wagner dominated with eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals, while Zay Dyer produced a career-high 15 rebounds.
A quiet first half for the conference's leading scorer, Terren Ward, was met with a 17-point second half to finish with 22 and 10 rebounds. However, the Trojan defense limited her to shooting 8-of-28 from the field and 2-of-9 from deep. Eden Johnson was the only other Soaring Eagle in double-figures at 11.
Deny the Comeback
Troy continued its dominant second quarter into the third, outscoring the Soaring Eagles 18-16 while shooting 47.1 percent from the field. However, the fourth quarter saw Georgia Southern jump to a 7-0 run, 58-49– ended with a triple by Ward at the 0:59 mark.
Hollings tried to end the run twice with a second-chance pull-up jumper at the 1:31 mark to push the lead back to double-digits and did it again with 5:24 remaining on a fastbreak lay-in, 64-53.
The lead returned to 12, 69-57, with 3:41 left on an and-one by Porchia. However, the Soaring Eagles weren't done as Paris Miller capped off an 11-0 run, 69-68, with a lay-in off the Troy turnover with 0:40 remaining.
The Trojans played the free throw game as Porchia went 4-of-4 and Hallmon went 1-of-2 in the final 0:33. A triple by Johnson with 0:11 kept Georgia Southern alive, 72-71, but a foul on Porchia with 0:06 helped her push the lead to three, 74-71. Georgia Southern put it in Ward's hand as time expired from deep and she couldn't deliver as Troy won, 74-71.
25-8
Quarter No. 1 saw just Porchia and Hallmon getting a bucket as the Trojans trailed 18-15 to the Soaring Eagles. However, that changed as Daniel and Dyer got involved on a 9-0 run to lead 24-20 with 7:16 left in the second.
Georgia Southern's Zaria Johnson interrupted the run with a second-chance lay-in to cut the deficit to two, 24-22, 0:30 later. But a miss by Georgia Southern led to a 0:04 fastbreak for Wagner, followed by a triple for Daniel to push the lead to seven, 29-22 – 5:42 on the clock.
For every bucket the Soaring Eagles produced, Troy doubled it as a Hallmon pulled up for a fastbreak jumper, and Sara Carvajal Caro knocked in the mid-range bucket as the lead ballooned to nine, 33-24, at the 5:27 mark.
Ward had the Soaring Eagles' last response with 3:54 left in the half, making the turnaround jumper, 33-26. The remaining minutes saw Troy score seven unanswered to head into the locker room with a 14-point advantage, 40-26, after outscoring Georgia Southern 25-8.
Head Coach Chanda Rigby
"I'm so happy to get this big win on the road. They were going for 10 in a row, and we were able to put a stop to it. Overall, we were able to win the battle on the boards and in transition. We outscored them 24-8 on the fastbreak. I'm also really proud of our defense because Georgia Southern has some great offensive players, and we stayed in our stance the entire time and showed determination. Tai hit some huge free throws. It's big for the confidence of both Tai and this team. It shows we can put a team away and remain calm."
First-Conference Win
• Troy ended the first half with a 40-26 lead, marking its largest lead entering halftime since leading 48-43 against SFA on Dec. 20.
• Porchia led the Trojans as she produced a new season-high of 24 on 9-of-13 shooting – previous high was 18 against No. 15 Tennessee.
• Dyer dominated the rebound category as she handily led the game with 15 to mark a new career-high. Her previous career high was 12 against LaGrange with Georgia State, while her career-high at Troy was 10 at Memphis (Dec. 2).
• The Trojans defeated the No. 1-ranked rebounding team in the nation, outrebounding them 57-50.
• Defensively, Troy limited Georgia Southern to just 32.9 percent from the field, 26.1 percent from deep, and 57.9 percent from the charity stripe.
Continue in Conway
The Trojans continue their road trip as they head north to the HTC Center to face Coastal Carolina at noon on Saturday, Jan. 6.
