Women’s Basketball Dominates Southern Miss on Senior Day

Saturday, February 21

Troy, Ala.

1 p.m.

Troy University

23-5,14-2Sun Belt

Southern Miss

14-14,7-9Sun Belt

Southern Miss.

Troy

Women’s Basketball Dominates Southern Miss on Senior Day

2/21/2026 4:44:00 PM | Basketball (W)

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – To celebrate five seniors in Emani Jenkins, Zay Dyer, Kamesha Moore, Fortuna Ngnawo and Rachel Leggett on senior day in Trojan Arena, the Troy women's basketball team won its eighth straight Sun Belt Conference game 97-80 over Southern Miss on Saturday afternoon.

The Trojans (23-5, 14-2 SBC) finished their home schedule at 13-1 to remain tied for first in the conference with Georgia Southern. They clinched a top-4 seed with the victory for the 12^th straight season. The loss for the Golden Eagles (14-14, 7-9 SBC) drops them from a three-way tie for sixth to eighth.

Troy had three seniors finish with double-doubles for the first time since Feb. 17, 2024, against ULM, led by Dyer with 21 points and 20 rebounds. Dyer claimed her second career 20-20 game and is the lone player in the SBC to have one 20-20 game in the last five seasons. She also had her nation-high 20^th double-double and 12^th straight. Ngnawo and Leggett also had double-doubles. Ngnawo finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds for her 16^th double-double (second in the SBC), while Leggett had 15 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double in the last nine games. Leggett also led the team with six assists. Ashley Baez also hit three from beyond the arc for 19 points.

Southern Miss took 76 shots and 31 3-pointers but finished at 32.9 percent from the floor and 22.6 percent from deep. The Golden Eagles were also outrebounded 62-40 in the loss. Meloney Thames (24), Jakayla Johnson (16), Whitney Hart (12) and Brikayla Gray (10) all finished with double-digits in scoring for USM. Hart also had a double-double with 10 rebounds.

Senior Day Celebration
With the score tied at 11 at the halfway point of the first quarter, Troy took control via Dyer's back-to-back buckets inside off assists from Moore and Leilani Guion, 15-11. Saniya Jackson took over from there with a fastbreak layup. After a block for Detavia Salter, Jackson got the pass from Guion and hit the 3-pointer to finish a 9-0 run with 2:52 left.

Southern Miss brought the margin down to five 52 seconds into the second quarter with a 3-pointer by Morgan Sieper, 25-20. But Troy quickly turned its lead to double-digits, 31-20, starting with a free throw for Dyer with 8:18 left and finishing with back-to-back buckets by Baez via a 3-pointer and fastbreak layup with 7:37 on the clock.

Timya Thurman paused the run for Troy with a jumper in the paint before Baez opened another run with a second-chance layup with 5:17 left in the half, 33-22. Baez's layup started a 15-0 run that lasted until 2:32 remaining for a 24-point advantage, 46-22. Baez (2), Jackson (2), Moore (2), Ngnawo (6) and Leggett (2) scored on the run.

The Golden Eagles managed to cut the margin to 16, 46-30, as they headed into the break. But the Trojans managed to shoot 47.6 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep in the first half, holding the Golden Eagles to 25.7 percent shooting from the floor and 20 percent from beyond the arc for a 16-point lead. Troy also outrebounded Southern Miss 35-15 and had 13 assists to the opposition's five.

Four straight free throws to start the second half for USM brought the margin to 12, 46-34, before the Trojans brought the advantage back to 18, 52-34, off a pair of buckets from Dyer and a spinning jumper for Leggett with 7:32 left in the third quarter.

Then, after a bucket for Southern Miss, Troy hit the final blow with an 11-0 run, 63-36, that saw an and-one for Leggett, a fastbreak layup for Baez and back-to-back threes by Jenkins and Baez midway into the third.

USM tried rallying late in the third quarter, bringing the margin down to 16 with an and-one with 10 seconds left, but Guion hit the buzzer-beater 3-pointer to reclaim the momentum for Troy, 76-57.

Troy carried that momentum into the final 10 minutes, not allowing Southern Miss to bring the margin below 15. When the buzzer sounded, Troy claimed the 97-80 victory on senior day and finished 13-1 at home.

Head Coach Chanda Rigby
"This is going to be one of my favorite memories in Trojan Arena because it was so perfect the way our seniors played and got to go out on their last night here, and this particular senior group has invested so much into this program. I was telling one of my colleagues the other day that I don't remember a team that's been so pro-Troy as this senior group. They just want to represent Troy with wins, so it was really nice for them to play like this in front of their people. Their families were here, and it was also a great win for the program because we stayed in first place and defeated the team that had already beaten us in conference play, which is a good sign. I felt better — not that it was perfect — about the way we held the lead down the stretch because that's been an area where we've been weak, so we still have things to improve, but we showed progress. I thought the effort was off the chart. I keep seeing Rachel Leggett flying in whenever we needed an inbounds play or a rebound, and Zay's effort was through the roof. All of our players competed really hard. I'm also very proud of our freshman, Saniya, for coming off the bench. I think she had nine points and five rebounds — maybe more — and she really helped keep the spark going."

Up Next
The Trojans close out the regular season with a pair of road games, starting in Jonesboro, Ark., to face Arkansas State on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m.

Senior Day Stats
• Troy celebrated senior day for five players in Emani Jenkins, Zay Dyer, Kamesha Moore, Fortuna Ngnawo and Rachel Leggett.
• Troy concludes the regular season at Trojan Arena with a 13-1 record, ending the season with six straight wins at home.
• The third straight home win over Southern Miss improved Troy's overall record against the opposition to 4-7 and 3-2 at home.
• Zay Dyer continues to lead the nation and conference with 20 double-doubles on 21 points and 20 rebounds.
• Troy had three players finish with a double-double (Rachel Leggett, Fortuna Ngnawo, Zay Dyer) for the first time since ULM on Feb. 17, 2024.
• Zay Dyer had her second career 20-20 game with 21 points and 20 rebounds. She's the only player in the SBC to have a 20-20 game in the last five seasons.
• The Trojans clinched a top-4 seed in the SBC Tournament for the 12^th straight season with the win over Southern Miss.