Foul Disparity Costs Troy in WBIT First Round at Kansas

Thursday, March 19

Lawrence, Kan.

6:30 p.m.

Troy University

25-8,15-3Sun Belt

Kansas

20-13,8-10Big 12

Troy

Kansas

Foul Disparity Costs Troy in WBIT First Round at Kansas

3/19/2026 10:46:00 PM | Basketball (W)

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

LAWRENCE, Kan. – With a foul count of 29-17 in favor of Kansas and three players fouling out, the Troy women's basketball team fell short in Allen Fieldhouse in round one of the WBIT, 79-70 on Thursday night.

The Trojans (25-8) led for 29 minutes of the ballgame in their first-ever WBIT game but couldn't overcome the foul margin as the Jayhawks (20-13) advanced to the second round.

Leilani Guion came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers for a team-high 18 points, while Rachel Leggett earned her fifth double-double of the season on 15 points and 10 rebounds. Fortuna Ngnawo rounded out the Trojans in double-figures with 13 points and two steals. The Trojans end their season tied for the most wins in a single season in program history (25) after making it to the postseason for the ninth time in head coach Chanda Rigby's tenure.

S'Mya Nichols went 5-of-5 from deep and 16-of-18 from the charity stripe, drawing 11 fouls for 31 points. Jayliya Davis also drew four fouls and shot 8-of-10 from the field for 21 points and eight rebounds. The second-best free throw shooting team in the Big 12 earned 34 free throws to Troy's 19, hitting 24 of them for the win.

Foul Margin
Troy entered the final quarter up five before both sides exchanged points for a 56-53 game with 7:45 remaining. A 3-pointer for Kansas 14 seconds later tied the game at 56, and two fouls gave the opposition a free throw to take its first lead of the second half, 57-56. A technical foul with 5:38 remaining, followed by another shooting foul, gave Kansas four free throws and a 61-56 lead.

Over the next two minutes, both sides exchanged 3-pointers as Guion hit her third and fourth of the game to keep the margin at four, 66-62. The Jayhawks kept Troy silent over the next minute, while they made three more free throws on a shooting and technical foul against Troy, a jumper and 3-pointer to balloon the lead to 12, 74-62, with 2:23 remaining.

Guion and Jackson willed the margin back to single-digits, 74-66, with a pair at the line by No. 35 and a jumper for the freshman guard over the next 40 seconds. But another 3-pointer by the Jayhawks stopped the Trojan comeback as they went on to win 79-70.

Hold the Advantage
Troy set the tone early with a 6-2 lead in the first two minutes of the first round off a pair at the line and a jumper for Emani Jenkins –Ngnawo stole the ball, and Ashley Baez found Leggett for the fastbreak layup in between.

Kansas brought the margin to one, 8-7, with 6:32 remaining, but Leggett picked Kansas' pocket and went coast-to-coast for a 10-7 advantage, 1:13 later. After a free throw by Kansas, Leggett dished it to Guion, who hit her first 3-pointer of the ballgame for a 13-8 lead with 4:49 left.

When the first quarter ended, Kansas tied the ballgame at 17, but Guion hit her second 3-pointer 11 seconds into the second quarter for a 20-17 lead. A free throw by Guion 1:15 later pushed the lead to four, 21-17.

Again, the Jayhawks trimmed the margin to one with 4:44 left with a jumper, but Troy capitalized on turnovers and second-chance opportunities with a tip-in by Leggett and a 3-pointer for Baez to take a 31-25 lead with 3:49 left. Kansas managed to cut the margin back to one, 33-32, with 1:22 left, but back-to-back steals and scores for Kamesha Moore in the final 43 seconds gave Troy the 37-32 lead at the break.

Troy took complete control after the break as Leggett, Zay Dyer and Baez combined for a 43-34 lead on a 6-2 run with 7:26 left in the third quarter. Three minutes later the Trojans pushed the lead back to eight, holding Kansas scoreless for three minutes while Leggett hit a 3-pointer and Dyer hit the jumper, 49-41.

Head Coach Chanda Rigby
"Both teams gave tremendous effort tonight, and I want to congratulate Kansas on advancing and wish them the best in the remainder of the tournament. I'm beyond proud to say that we earned an at-large bid to become the first Troy women's basketball team to get into the WBIT. Simply put, they got more comfortable with breaking our press throughout the game, and when the foul and free-throw differential is as high as it was tonight as the road team, it's hard to overcome that. But this team did amazing things all season long and our body of work throughout this season, combined with our effort and play tonight showed that we belonged. I was happy to see players like Rachel and Leilani go out the way they did. And honestly, I'm going to remember this team fondly for their desire to grow on and off the court. This was truly a special group."

Round One Stats
• Troy led for 28:37 of the ballgame against Kansas, with its largest lead being nine with 7:26 remaining in the third quarter.
• Rachel Leggett earned her fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
• Leilani Guion erupted for a team-high 18 points with four 3-pointers, marking her third game in double-figures for scoring.
• Troy won the second quarter, outscoring Kansas 20-15 as it held the opposition to 38.1 percent from the field and 0-of-5 from deep.
• Despite the loss, Troy won the turnover battle 20-15, scoring 18 points off turnovers to Kansas' 10.