Six Trojans End in Double-Figures as Troy Terrorizes Oakwood in Home Opener

Wednesday, December 4

Troy, Ala.

12 p.m.

Troy University

4-5,0-0Sun Belt

109

Oakwood

0-2

Oakwood

Troy

109

Six Trojans End in Double-Figures as Troy Terrorizes Oakwood in Home Opener

12/4/2024 4:37:00 PM | Basketball (W)

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – For the 56^th time in program history and 37^th in head coach Chanda Rigby's tenure, the Troy women's basketball program eclipsed 100 points as it stomped Oakwood in Trojan Arena, 109-47, on Wednesday afternoon.

Rigby improves the Trojans record to 4-5 overall as they win the home opener for the 11^th time in her 13-year tenure and deliver a sixth straight loss to the Ambassadors (1-5). Defensively, the Trojans ended the afternoon with the most steals (28) since they had 20 at Georgia State on Jan. 7, 2022, and had a second-straight game with 60-plus rebounds.

Six Trojans finished in double-figures for scoring in the victory, led by Zay Dyer and Brianna Jackson with 14 apiece on a combined 10-of-21 from the field. Dyer stuffed the stat sheet in her third straight double-double on 10 rebounds with a career-high four assists and steals to boost. For the eighth time in nine games, Ashley Baez finished with 10-plus points on 4-of-11 shooting, while Adriana Jones matched her with 11 points on 5-of-10 from the field. Meanwhile, off the bench, Leilani Guion and Emani Jenkins joined four of the five starters with 13 and 10 points on a combined five triples.

Of the 12 Trojans to check in, 11 ended in the scoring column, as nobody played less than 11 minutes in Trojan Arena. However, all 12 Trojans seized at least one rebound as they came up one offensive board short of 30 for a second straight game. Outside of Dyer's double-double, Fortuna Ngnawo grabbed 10 rebounds to tie for a team-high while coming up one point short (9) for a double-double of her own. As a unit, the Trojans dominated Oakwood on all facets, outscoring the opposition in points off turnovers (46-5), paint (60-12), second chance (19-3), fastbreaks (35-4) and off the bench (54-21).

Oakwood managed to have two players end in double-figures as Saniya Keys led the team with 13 points while Dekezia Moore followed her with 12. Both players combined for 25-of-47 points for Oakwood (53.2 percent) on 9-of-19 from the field. The remaining Ambassadors shot 8-of-38 for 21.1 percent.

Complete Domination
The Ambassadors kept things competitive through the first 3:17 when Trenisha Adams drilled a triple to cut the margin to three, 8-5. After Oakwood failed to capitalize on a Troy turnover, Baez and Shaulana Wagner connected inside to open a 15-2 run that spanned most of the opening quarter. The run ended with 1:55 remaining when Emma Imevbore went 1-of-2 at the charity stripe to push Troy's lead to 18, 25-7. When the buzzer for the first sounded, Troy held a 32-13 lead and had 10-of-12 Trojans in the scoring column.

Quarter No. 2 was more of the same as Oakwood kept the margin under 21 for the first 3:21, until Baez scored five straight points for Troy to push the lead to 24, 41-17, with 6:21 left in the half. Troy followed a bucket for Morgan Bone from the mid-range with a 6-0 run to see the margin hit 30, 49-19, when Khila Morris stole the ball from Oakwood and found Guion for the layup. Jones had the final say of the first half when she pushed the Trojan advantage to 35, 61-26, on Oakwood's 23^rd turnover of the first 20 minutes with a fastbreak lay-in.

Rigby and her players weren't satisfied as they came out of halftime with a 5-0 burst to hit 40 on the margin, 66-26, when Dyer finished the possession with two offensive rebounds and the bucket before Jackson and Wagner hit a trio of free throws at the 2:51 mark. Troy kept the gas pedal down, limiting Oakwood to nine points in the quarter, while Briana Peguero helped peak the lead to 52 at the buzzer, 87-35, as No. 1 scored four straight points on her own two steals.

The final 10 minutes saw Troy outscore Oakwood 22-12 for the smallest margin in a quarter. But that didn't stop Troy from continuing its dominant ways when Jenkins eclipsed the 100-point mark for Troy with 5:51 remaining as Wagner found her wide open from deep, and she connected, 101-40. The 3-point game continued to be a staple for Troy as Guion got involved in the action, pushing Troy's lead to its most significant (65), 109-44, after Imevbore intercepted the pass from Jay'Lenai Thomas. Imevbore found Morris, who made the extra pass to 'Stitch' for Troy's final points of the ballgame – Oakwood scored one triple with 1:07 remaining to get the final margin to 62, 109-47.

Head Coach Chanda Rigby
"The fans, Sound of the South and all the fans were there for us. It was Education Day, so there were a lot of young fans, and we hope they grow up to be Trojan fans. They were really loud for us. It's just good to be back, and we're blessed to have all those things in Trojan Arena. We're still trying to pull together a team with nine new players, so even though we were winning by a lot at the beginning of the game, we're still not doing a lot of things right. A lot of our players were not playing the way that they can play. We talked about it at halftime, and in the second half, the players came out and played the way we know they can. Emani Jenkins is a shooter, and Stitch is a shooter. They came out, and both had at least two 3-pointers in the second half. That comes with not feeling so forced to get them. We have ten solid days to get better as a staff and squad so that Memphis can't even recognize us when we come out to play the next game because we're so much better."

We Stay Home
Troy continues its brief homestand in 10 days when it invites Memphis for a rematch on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m.

Home Opener Numbers
• The Trojans continue their success in home openers, pushing their record under Rigby to 11-2 in her 13 seasons.
• The Trojans scored 61 points in the first half against Oakwood, marking the first time they scored 60-plus points in a half since South Alabama on March 1, 2024.
• Six Trojans ended the night in double-figures for the first time since Georgia State on Jan. 7, 2022.
• Wednesday marked the 56^th time the Trojans scored triple-figures and the 37^th time in Rigby's career. Troy is 52-4 overall and 34-3 under Rigby when scoring 100-plus points.
• Dyer's 15 points and 10 rebounds notched her third straight double-double. She's had four in 2024-25 and 12 in her D-I career.
• Adriana Jones had multiple career-highs in the victory over Oakwood with 11 points, two steals and five field goals.
• For the second straight game, the Trojans doubled the opposition in rebounds, winning the battle of the boards, 64-31, with 29 on the offensive end.
• Troy ended with 28 steals for the most since Georgia State (20) on Jan. 7, 2022. The Trojans scored 46 points off those turnovers.