Women’s Basketball Avenges 2024-25 With Blowout Win Over Arkansas State

Saturday, January 10

Troy, Ala.

3:33 p.m.

Troy University

13-3,4-1Sun Belt

Arkansas State

14-4,5-1Sun Belt

Arkansas St.

Troy

Women’s Basketball Avenges 2024-25 With Blowout Win Over Arkansas State

1/10/2026 6:40:00 PM | Basketball (W)

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Three hundred eight days after being eliminated by Arkansas State in the 2024-25 Sun Belt Conference Tournament, Troy women's basketball responded with an emphatic 86-64 victory Saturday afternoon inside Trojan Arena.

Troy (13-3, 4-1 SBC) defeated one of the two remaining undefeated teams in league play (Marshall) and snapped the 12-game win streak for the Red Wolves (14-4, 5-1 SBC).

Defensively, Troy held the No. 2-ranked team in the nation for 3-pointers made (10.5) to nine makes on 39 attempts for a 23.1 percent from behind the arc. On the offensive end, Troy had everyone contribute to the scoring column on 48.5 percent shooting from the field and 85 percent at the charity stripe on 17 makes. Fortuna Ngnawo led Troy with her eighth double-double on 21 points and 10 rebounds. She tied fellow Trojan Zay Dyer for the most in the SBC. Off the bench, Kamesha Moore scored 10-plus points in her first career game with 11 points. Troy's bench outscored Arkansas State's 30-21 with the unit accounting for 30 points, 23 rebounds, six assists, two steals and three blocks.

Crislyn Rose paced Arkansas State on 8-of-15 shooting for a team-high 19 points and six assists. Mia Tarver followed her as the second Red Wolf in double-figures at 11 on three 3-pointers. Overall, Arkansas State was outscored 68-44 in the first three quarters, shooting just 31.3 percent from the floor.

… Assembled
The game opened fast, with both sides trading blows in the first three minutes, resulting in a 12-12 tie. Ngnawo, who opened the game with a second-chance jumper, tied the game at 12 with a wide-open fastbreak lay-in. Dyer gave Troy the lead, 14-12, with the game's first 4-0 swing.

Arkansas State answered with a layup before Jenkins became the first player in double-figures with back-to-back 3-pointers for a 20-14 advantage with 4:36 remaining in the first quarter. The Red Wolves responded with another layup, followed by a pair of Rachel Leggett free throws to start an 8-0 run.

After a miss from the Red Wolves, Leilani Guion got the pass from Moore and finished with a jumper inside the paint. Ashley Baez ended the run as she finished the and-one to open a 27-16 lead with 44 seconds remaining.

Back-to-back buckets from the Red Wolves finished the opening quarter before Troy went on another 6-0 run to start the second with a pair of buckets from Ngnawo and a jumper from Leggett to reestablish the 13-point lead, 33-20.

Troy went on to outscore Arkansas State 17-8 in the second quarter to head into halftime with a 44-28 lead, including a 3:18 field goal drought by the opposition in the remaining minutes. The Red Wolves shot 17.6 percent in the second quarter with a 1-of-8 showing from deep. Ngnawo closed the quarter with 1:18 left with a pair of free throws off one of four turnovers by Arkansas State in the final three minutes.

Marlie Dickerson cut the margin to 14, 46-32, 39 seconds into the third before Baez found Jenkins inside for the layup, and Dyer capitalized on the Red Wolf miss with a 3-pointer for a 19-point lead, 51-32, with 8:17 on the clock.

Troy ballooned its advantage up to 28, 65-37, with 2:36 remaining in the third quarter with a 12-0 run. With 4:46 on the clock, Saniya Jackson hit the 3-pointer to start the run, and Moore finished it with a pair of free throws for Troy's largest lead.

Again, the Red Wolves brought it back to within 21, 68-47, 40 seconds into the final quarter, until Ngnawo went on a 6-0 scoring streak of her own to boost the advantage back to 27, 74-47, over the next two minutes and seal the win. The final seven minutes saw Troy hold off Arkansas State, 86-64, snapping a 12-game win streak by the opposition and avenging a 3-0 sweep from last season.

Head Coach Chanda Rigby
"We wanted to be the team with the lowest number of turnovers on them all year, and we were. We wanted to outrebound them by a large margin, and we did that. We wanted to be locked in on defense because they try to get 40 to 50 threes a game. They were locked in at every turn. I appreciate coach Stephanie Murphy for doing our defense. She was unrelenting all week in preparation for this game and the points she wanted to make on defense. The team responded to it as well as any team could. We got put out of the Sun Belt Tournament by them last year, and that might have been a long time ago, but the wound is still fresh. The only way to heal that wound is to expose it and get back in control of that process and that is what we did tonight."

Up Next
Troy heads back on the road for a date with ULM on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 6:30 p.m.

Revenge Stats
• For the 18^th time in the last 19 games, Fortuna Ngnawo finished in double-figures for scoring with a 21-point performance. The 20-plus point showing was her third of the season.
• Emani Jenkins hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the first quarter for her 12^th game with multiple threes.
• Troy broke through after being swept by Arkansas State in 2024-25 in three matchups to hold the series at home 11-6 and 18-14 all-time.
• With the 22-point win, Troy's won eight games by at least 20 points. Of their 13 wins, 11 have come in double figures.
• Shakirah Edwards ended with a team-high two blocks, leading the Trojans for the fourth time in that category. Edwards has multiple blocks or steals in nine games.
• Troy's defense held the No. 2 in the country for 3-pointers per game (10.5) to 9-of-39 from behind the arc for 23.1 percent.
• Kamesha Moore set career-highs in points (11) and field goals made (3) with her first career double-digit game for scoring.
• Troy is now 4-for-4 in games supporting O's Cool Bike Foundation.