Tuesday, December 1
Troy Smothers Nicholls in Dominant Performance
TROY, Alabama – The nation's top offense was on full display, but the Troy women's basketball team was sparked by it's defense in a dominating, 104-51, win over Nicholls at Trojan Arena on Tuesday.
Troy (3-2) held Nicholls to just 25 percent shooting and had 19 steals on 35 Nicholls turnovers that led to 41 Trojan points. Troy's 53-point victory was just two points shy of tying the program's Division I era record for margin of victory.
"Scoring a 100 points is what people like to talk about," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "But as a team we know, and have decided that, it doesn't matter how many times we score 100, if we don't hold people to lower scores we're not going to achieve our goals."
The defense was the headline, but Troy's offense was as powerful as normal as the Trojans scored 100 points for the third time in as many home games this season. The win was Troy's eighth straight at Trojan Arena.
Five Trojans scored in double figures, led by 16 points from Caitlyn Ramirez who also led the team with nine rebounds. The junior, who entered leading the Sun Belt in field goal percentage, upped that number even more with a 7-of-10 showing, including 6-of-7 in the second half.
Three Trojans scored 15 points each, including Ashley Beverly Kelley who was also 7-of-10 from the floor with four assists. Rachel Reid and Jayla Chills each scored 15 off the bench for Troy, combining for five of Troy's 12 3-pointers.
Amanda Mendoza hit 3-of-4 from long range and was the fifth Trojan in double figures, scoring 11 points in her first career start. The Sun Belt's leading assister also dished out a game-high five dimes.
The Trojans shot 54 percent (40-of-74), upping a team shooting percentage that already ranked eighth in the NCAA. Troy hit 52 percent (12-of-23) from long range and 12-of-16 from the free throw line.
Troy's defense was suffocating from the start, holding Nicholls to nine points in the first quarter. Troy never trailed and took just 6:30 to pull ahead by 10 points. Nicholls (2-4) never scored more than 16 points in a quarter, and after a 19-point effort in the first period, Troy never scored less than 24 in a quarter.
Troy outscored the Colonels in the paint, 48-22, thanks in large part to 10 blocks, including four from Claresa Banks in just 11 minutes off the bench. Kristen Emerson swatted three shots for the second straight game and tied a career high with nine points.
Nicholls was led in scoring by Karrignton Brown who had 16 points off the bench, but committed 11 turnovers. The Colonels leading scorer on the season, Hope Pawlowski, had 11 points but was just 2-of-12 from the floor.
Troy now has nine days between games as it next travels to Vanderbilt for a game against the Commodores on Thursday, December 10.
UTA Ends SFA's 17-Game Home Winning Streak
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – UT Arlington ended Stephen F. Austin's 17-game home winning streak with a 67-63 win at William R. Johnson Coliseum on Tuesday night.
The Lady Mavericks (3-3) were helped along by sophomore Rebekah VanDijk's first double-double of the season as she led with a team-high 18 points and 13 rebounds. UTA shot a blistering 51.0 percent from the field, knocking down 25 of its 49 attempts. SFA's home winning streak was the seventh longest in the nation.
UTA opened with a strong defensive performance to hold SFA's up-tempo offense below 40 percent shooting in the first. However, both teams' offenses came alive in the second. UTA was 13-of-22 in the second and had a 13-4 run sparked by Kamy Cole's layup with seven minutes remaining.
The Ladyjacks (4-2) chipped away at the lead late and found themselves down just four with a minute to play. However, it was LaShanda Green to ice the game with a pair of free throws with less than eight ticks on the clock.
Turning point
Leading 50-48 with seven minutes to play, Cole's layup sparked a run that would see UTA to the win. Cole added a 3-pointer on the way to her 12-point game and VanDijk converted back-to-back shots to see UTA to a double-digit lead.
Key Stats
VanDijk's 18 points were two short of her career high. Toma Zaleckaite returned from a three-game absence with four points and two rebounds. Taylor Ross' 19 points for SFA is the most scored against UTA this season.
Notable
The 44.2 percent shooting percentage for SFA was its lowest at home this season. The lead changed eight times and there were three ties. UTA is 1-1 against Southland Conference teams this season, falling to McNeese State in the Preseason WNIT.
Up next
UT Arlington continues its brief two-game road trip on Thursday when it travels to face Kansas State. It is the second Big 12 opponent UTA will face this season. KSU and UTA are meeting in back-to-back years, both in Kansas.
Gators Pull Away from Jaguars in Second Half
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball hung with Southeastern Conference foe Florida for a majority of the game Tuesday night, the Gators used an 11-1 second-half run to pull away and defeat the Jaguars, 72-60 at the Mitchell Center.
"I am very proud of our young ladies to respond from our game against Central Florida the way they did," South Alabama head coach Terry Fowler said. "We talked about three things going into this game. We talked about competing, staying together, and having a belief that we can do it, and I thought we accomplished all three of those things. This is something for us to build on from here on forward. After the Thanksgiving break, we had four knockdown, drag-out practices, and I think it paid off tonight. I think our young ladies understand what is required to be a successful program."
The 72 points marked the first time anyone has held the Gators below 82 points this season.
The Jaguars (1-3) will now head out on the road for a pair of games, beginning with Alabama State on Thursday. Tip-off versus the Hornets is set for 6 p.m. at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome. Live stats and web streaming for the contest can be accessed at www.USAJaguars.com. Fans can also keep up with in-match updates by following action on the program's twitter account @SouthALWBB.
Genesis Perrymond was one of two South Alabama players to end the night in double figures as she had 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting in the loss. All four of her field goals came from the three-point line.
Marquita Daniels also ended the night in double digits with 10 points to go along with her game-high four steals and two assists, while Colby Davis just missed double figures, finishing with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting. Davis also added five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Chyna Ellis led the club on the glass, pulling downs nine rebounds, while also chipping in with seven points.
Fellow sophomore LaNeetra Guillory also paced South Alabama defensively as she had three of the Jaguars' 10 blocks. The 10 blocks were the most by USA in a game since recording 12 against North Texas on Feb. 4, 2009.
The win for Florida was its sixth straight and improved the Gators to 6-1 on the year. Carlie Needles paced the club with 15 points in 36 minutes of action. Ronni Williams and Dyandria Anderson each recorded a double-double for UF. Williams had 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and pulled down a game-best 12 boards. Anderson had 13 points and 10 rebounds of her own. Both Williams and Anderson each grabbed five offensive rebounds apiece.
Second-half shooting proved to be the difference for the two clubs. Florida shot 44.4 percent (16-of-36) during the final two periods, while USA shot 26.7 percent (8-of-30). The Gators also out-rebounded the Jaguars 33-17 in the second half.
The Gators got off to a slow start, missing their first four attempts and 12 of their first 13 from the floor. South Alabama took advantage and grabbed the momentum early on jumping out to an 8-3 lead a little less than three minutes into the contest. Daniels highlighted the early run for the Jaguars as she drained a three-pointer from the left corner and then dished out a behind-the-back pass to Colby Davis for a fastbreak layup to give USA the five-point lead.
UF cut the deficit to one after a bucket by January Miller at the 5:21 mark, but on South Alabama's next possession, Juliann Miller knocked down a 12-foot jumper along the right baseline and a minute Erin Autio converted two of her three free-throw attempts after being fouled on a three-point attempt with under four to go in the opening quarter.
The Gators later pulled within two (12-10), but after an India Hall basket and a Perrymond trey from the right wing, the Jaguars led 17-10.
Florida ended the first period with a basket and scored on two of its first three possession to open the second to again pull within one (17-16) after a pair of Cassie Peoples free throws.
A little over two minutes later, the Jaguar offense caught fire again, scoring on three-straight possessions. Perrymond ignited the South Alabama offense with her second three of the night. Davis then drove the lane and found Ellis open underneath for a basket and the junior guard then scored a layup of her own to give USA a 26-18 advantage with four minutes remaining in the first half.
Needles would spark UF's offense over the next three minutes as she scored nine-straight points for the Gators. The redshirt senior converted an old-fashioned three-point play and then connected from long-range twice. Anderson's bucket with one minute, 33 seconds showing on the clock again narrowed USA's lead to 30-29.
South Alabama again extended its lead out to five (34-29) after buckets by Ellis and Autio with under a minute to go, but Anderson sank a pair of free-throws with 36.7 left and Viktorija Dimaite's putback in the closing seconds sent the Gators into the locker room trailing 34-33.
The Jaguars knocked down 14 of their 28 shot attempts for 50 percent shooting during the first 20 minutes of action, while Florida was just 12-of-39 for 30.8 percent. UF held a 27-16 advantage on the glass in the first half.
Coming out of the locker room, Florida scored the first six points of the second half and took a 39-34 lead after an off-balanced layup by Anderson with just under seven minutes showing on the clock.
After missing its first eight shot attempts of the third quarter, South Alabama finally got on the board as Autio knocked down a three from the right wing at the 5:29 mark.
UF looked as if it were going to regain the momentum, but USA again answered back as Perrymond drained her third trey of the contest, this one coming at the 3:45 mark from the left corner to cut the deficit to 42-40.
Over the remainder of the period, Daniels attempted to keep the Jaguars in the game as she scored South Alabama's next five points. Daniels' jumper with 31.2 to go in the period trimmed the Gator lead to 47-45.
Florida didn't led USA pull any closer and over the final 25 seconds of the third quarter and for the first four-and-a-half minutes of the fourth, the Gators used an 11-1 run to break the game open. Carla Batchelor connected from the left corner at the 7:06 mark and Anderson's putback on UF's next possession capped off the run and put the visitors up 58-46.
The Gators did a lot of their damage inside the paint, scoring 32 of their points there and recording 16 second-chance points. Florida held a 57-35 advantage on the glass, including a 23-11 margin on the offensive boards.
During the pivotal Florida run, South Alabama missed its three shot attempts from the field and three free-throws. Missed free throws would be key in the Jags' upset attempt as they finished 10-for-23 at the charity stripe in the game and 7-of-15 at the line in the second half.
From there, UF maintained its double-digit lead en route to the 12-point victory.