Troy Squashes Hornets, Moves to 5-1
TROY, Alabama – The Troy women's basketball team dominated from start to finish en route to a 95-66 victory over Alabama State on Sunday at Trojan Arena.
The win was the Trojans' sixth straight over the Hornets and the sixth consecutive overall win at Trojan Arena dating back to last season. Troy is off to a 5-1 start for the first time since 1996-97; the program hasn't started 6-1 since 1991-92.
The Trojans used quality defense and an attacking offense in the first half as Alabama State was held scoreless for 3:26 of the final five minutes in the first half while Troy built a 26-10 advantage. In a game that it never trailed, Troy extended its lead to 33-12 on consecutive 3-pointers from Amanda Mendoza in the second quarter. La'Tia Fils-Aime' scored 11 in the first half on her way to 18 points in the game setting a new career high. Fils-Aime' has scored in double figures in each of the last four games. She was also 10-for-12 from the free throw line.
Jayla Chills paced the Trojans with 20 points, her second 20-point performance of the season as the senior guard scored 21 against Belmont on Nov. 16. Chills was 6-for-13 from the field and 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, she also landed 5-of-6 free throws. Dajia Williams (13), Claresa Banks (13) and Amanda Mendoza also all scored in double-digits. The Hornets (1-6) were led by Danielle Clark who finished the game with 16 points.
Troy held Alabama State to fewer than 15 points in three of the four quarters and have now kept opponents less than 70 points in four of six games this season.
QUOTABLE
"It's always good to win in Trojan Arena, we are always thankful tonight to be 5-1 and have a great start to our season," head coach Chanda Rigby said. "Tonight we learned some things about our team. We learned that when our post players are playing really well, they're pretty good and get them the ball. We have to live and learn (from our mistakes) and play a very good Jacksonville team next week."
UP NEXT
Troy hits the road for the next two contests. The Trojans take on Jacksonville on Dec. 10 and Nicholls State on Dec. 14.
Trojans Pull Away Late for Win Over Memphis
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – With the game close and time winding down, Little Rock closed the contest on a 9-2 run to pull away from Memphis in a 52-44 victory at Elma Roane Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon.
Little Rock (5-4) had led by as many as 8 points with four minutes remaining, but Memphis (3-5) made it a 3-point game with 1:41 left on the clock when the Tigers hit a layup, 3-pointer and two free throws.
From there, though, Monique Townson and Kaitlyn Pratt combined for 7 consecutive Trojan points to put the game out of the Tigers' reach. Townson started the run with a coast-to-coast layup and free throw, Pratt followed with a layup and Townson ended it with two made free throws with 16 seconds remaining.
Pratt breached the 20-point mark for the second straight game, finishing with a team-high 21. Kyra Collier scored 11, and Ronjanae DeGray tied career highs in points (8) and rebounds (9) while leading the team in rebounding. Townson also scored eight points, and Sharde' Collins tallied 6.
The win was Little Rock's fourth straight overall, fifth straight against Memphis and third straight at Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The team is over .500 for the first time since it was 1-0.
Little Rock's first-half offense was almost completely in the hands of Pratt, who shot 7 of 8 from the field and added two free throws for 16 points. Collier added 5 points and Ronjanae DeGray scored 4 to give Little Rock a 25-21 lead over the Tigers at the break.
Carolee Dillard, on the Trojans' roster for the first time in three years and one day – a span of 99 games – saw seven minutes of action off the bench and had two rebounds.
The Trojans now have their longest stretch of the season without a game, as they will not play again until December 13. Little Rock will host No. 6 Mississippi State at the Jack Stephens Center on that date with tipoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Apps Fourth-Quarter Push not Enough in Loss to Radford
BOONE, N.C. - Despite 11 straight points from redshirt sophomore Q Murray in the final 3:43 of the game, Appalachian State University women’s basketball fell short against Radford, 57-54, on Sunday afternoon in the Holmes Center.
In a back-and-forth game that never saw a lead for either team grow past nine points, the Mountaineers (4-4) battled tough defensively, holding the Highlanders (5-1) to 18.2 percent from downtown and forced 19 turnovers.
For the first time this season, Appalachian dropped a game while having at least three double-digit scorers. Senior Joi Jones led the pack, having 19 points to go along with a season-high eight rebounds.
Junior Madi Story was one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing nine boards, while Murray finished with 11 points.
The trio scored 43 of the team’s points and hit 17 of the Apps’ 19 field goals. App State would connect on a season-high six 3-pointers in the game and shot a season-best 42.9 percent from beyond the arc.
On the defensive side, senior Ashley Bassett-Smith grabbed three boards, had one steal while blocking two shots on the day. With the blocks, Bassett-Smith became the seventh player all-time in program history to amass 100 blocks and is now tied for sixth all-time with 101.
Trailing the entire game, Appalachian wouldn’t capture its first lead until the 1:54 mark when Murray hit a pair of free throws during her 11-point barrage to put the Apps ahead, 49-47. But the Highlanders’ leading scorer, Destinee Walker, scored the next seven points to put the visitors ahead, 53-49, with 26 seconds left in the game.
After Murray had connected on her third trey of the quarter, the Apps and Highlanders traded a pair of free throws and a layup from Jones to keep the RU lead to 56-54. Jen Falconer hit the front end of a pair at the line, giving the Mountaineers a chance to tie, but Murray’s tying attempt fell short off the trim, giving RU its fifth consecutive win.
In what has been App State’s formula in its four wins getting inside the paint and turning turnovers into points, Radford turned the tide, holding a 14-6 edge in points off turnovers and a 30-16 advantage in points in the paint.
Despite the opening quarter being close, the Highlanders held onto the lead for the entire frame. RU held App to 25 percent shooting from the field. Jones helped the Apps stay within striking distance scoring nine of the team’s 10 points, while the visitors went into the second quarter with a 13-10 lead.
RU extended the lead to as much as nine, 23-14, with 3:05 left in the half following an 8-2 run over a 3:28 span. App State responded scoring the next seven points thanks to a pair of jumpers from Jones and a 3-pointer by freshman Brooklyn Allen (Canton, N.C./Pisgah) before the break to slice the deficit to two, 23-21.
Coming out of the half, RU scored seven of the next eight points to push the lead to eight, 30-22. App State once again crawled back to keep the deficit to one possession, but the Highlanders answered as they went into the fourth quarter with a 41-34 lead. In the third quarter alone RU outscored App State 14-4 in the paint and notched seven points off of turnovers.
Appalachian kept grinding to get back into the game until Murray caught fire in the final minutes to help App State have a chance to tie the game.
Destinee Walker scored a game-high 22 points for the Highlanders with 11 boards while Jayda Worthy recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Sydney Nunley posted 13 off the glass along with nine points.
The Mountaineers now have a full week off before traveling to Atlanta where they will take on Georgia Tech on Sunday, Dec. 11. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
ULM Women’s Basketball Falls in Final Seconds
Natchitoches, La. - A late three-pointer by Northwestern in the final 30 seconds was the difference as the host Demons defeated the visiting ULM women’s basketball team 67-65 on Sunday afternoon in what was a back-and-forth battle from beginning to end.
TURNING POINT
ULM took a one-point lead with 33 seconds remaining on Carissa Moody's layup in what was the 11th lead change of the contest that also featured six different tied scores. Northwestern's Beatrice Attura responded with the eventual game-winning three-pointer with 21.9 seconds remaining to cap off a crazy fourth quarter that saw the host Deamons lead by as many as 10 before ULM used a 18-10 run over the final 7:41 to set up the final minute of play.
NOTEABLES
-ULM had four players score in double digits, led by Andreanna Jackson's game-high 25-point afternoon in her first start of the season. Jackson finished the game shooting 10-for-23 from the floor, including a trio of three pointers, while she just missed out on a double-double with nine assists. She finished filling her stat line with four rebounds, an assist and a steal in 35 minutes of action.
-Natchitoches native Gabriella Cortez added 11 points, including a key three-pointer with 2:16 remaining that pushed ULM's late run to 14-0 as part of its larger 18-10 run to close the game. She added three rebounds and three assists in the loss.
-Stephanie Ratliff posted the game's only double-double with a 10-point, 10-rebound effort. She finished 5-of-7 from the floor and pulled down six of her rebounds off the defensive glass, adding a pair of blocks, an assist and a steal before fouling out with 49 seconds remaining.
-Carissa Moody rounded out ULM's double-digit scorers, finishing with 10 points in 33 minutes of action, hitting a pair of three-point baskets as part of a 4-of-11 shooting night.
-Both teams had nearly identical nearly identical shooting percentages from the floor (NSU 43.4 percent, ULM 43.3 percent). The Warhawks shot a game-high 60 percent as a team in the second quarter and took a two-point deficit into the locker room (32-30 NSU).
-ULM out rebounded the Demons 36-32 overall and had an 11-7 rebounding advantage on the offensive glass. Both sides pulled down 25 defensive rebounds. The Warhawks also had a 13-7 advantage in second-chance points.
-The hosts finished with a 28-22 advatange in points in the paint, a 24-15 difference in points off turnovers and received 16 points off the bench to ULM's 11 bench points.
JAGUARS FALL TO SOUTHERN MISS 57-48 AT HOME
MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama women's basketball team (3-4) dropped the first of its four-game homestand to Southern Miss (7-1) 57-48 on Sunday afternoon at the Mitchell Center. The Lady Eagles outscored the Jaguars 18-6 in the fourth quarter for the win.
South Alabama scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter in the first 45 seconds for a 46-39 lead, but went 0-10 from the field the rest of the game in addition to five turnovers. Colby Davis hit a layup to begin the quarter, and LaNeetra Guillory hit a jumper just past the free-throw line off a pass by Genesis Perrymond.
Southern Miss went on a 15-0 run that covered over just eight minutes of action. Jayla King cut the Lady Eagle's deficit to three points after a layup and a pair of free throws. After a Brittanny Dinkins' jumper, Keri Jewett-Giles gave Southern Miss the lead for the first time since the beginning of the second quarter on a fast break layup. Jewett-Giles would add four more points on a jumper and layup that sandwiched a layup by King. Megan Brown hit a free throw with 45 seconds left before South Alabama's Davis cut the deficit to six on two free throws. Shonte Hailes added three throws in the next two possessions for Southern Miss to close out the game.
The Jaguars had staked a 12-point lead halfway through the third quarter after opening up the second half on a 10-3 run. Genesis Perrymond hit a three-pointer on the first possession of the half, and then Davis converted on a three-point play after being fouled on a fast break layup on a dish by Chyna Ellis. After the Lady Eagles' Brittny Norris hit a three-pointer, Davis hit back-to-back layups for the Jag's biggest lead of the game.
The Lady Eagles closed out the third quarter on an 11-2 run. Hailes made a fastbreak layup with 4:36 left in the quarter, and King then made two-straight layups. After the Jaguars responded with a layup by Ellis, Respect Leaphart hit a shot in the paint before Dinkins hit a three-pointer with 45 seconds left in the quarter.
"We had a 12-point lead and we went through a cold stretch," said head coach Terry Fowler. "We couldn't make shots and Southern Miss got back in a run. We really just stopped doing what we were doing to get us that lead. We were getting the ball inside and handling their press. Then for whatever reason, I don't know if fatigue played a part, we just stopped executing on offensive side of the floor and gave them opportunities."
Both teams got off to hot starts on the offensive end to start the game. South Alabama made its first three shots, and Southern Miss hit four of its first five shots to grab a 10-7 lead. The Jags turned the ball over twice to start the game, but Perrymond got them on the board with a fastbreak layup off a pass by Candice Williams. Ellis scored the next five points for the Jags off a jumper and a three-point play on a made layup.
The rest of the first quarter went back-and-forth as the lead changed twice with two ties.
The Jags took the lead just 11 seconds into the second quarter when Ellis made a pair of free throws to make the score 17-16. Ellis then made another layup, and Davis split a pair of free throws with 6:19 remaining in the second quarter.
Dinkins tied the game up at 25-25 with 2:38 left in the first half, and South Alabama closed out the half with the last five points to go to halftime with a 30-25 lead. Genesis Perrymond hit a three-pointer on a pass by Colby Davis, and Chyna Ellis made a layup with 47 seconds left on a pick and roll with Williams.
Southern Miss had the advantage on the glass, outrebounding South Alabama 39-28. The Lady Eagles used 15 offensive rebounds to score 14 second chance points while South Alabama did not have any second chance points. The Lady Eagles also turned the ball over five times less (22-17).
South Alabama finished the game shooting 35.3% (18-51) from the field and 26.3% (5-19) from behind the three-point line. Southern Miss went 23-56 (41.1%) from the field and 4-10 (40.0%) from three.
"The one thing we really talked about as a team is we have to figure out how to put 40 minutes together," said Fowler. "I think the final 15 minutes we just couldn't get the ball in the basket. Defensively, I'm happy with our effort but we have got to be able to score the ball and be able to make some of those easy shots, the shots around the basket. We have to get those to fall. I think then you'll see our kids' confidence grow and continue to move on and improve from that."
Ellis led the Jags in scoring with 13 points on 5-12 field goals and 3-3 from the free-throw line and also had a game-high and season-high five blocks along with six rebounds and two assists. Davis was the only other double-digit scorer with 12 points in addition to two assists.
Perrymond was the leading rebounder with seven boards and had eight points with two three-pointers, four assists, one steal and no turnovers. Williams had game-highs of five assists and three steals. Off the bench Savannah Jones had nine points after going 3-5 from three, two rebounds and a steal, and Guillory had six points and five rebounds and tied a career-high with three blocks.
South Alabama is off the entire next week and will face Southern on Monday, Dec. 12 at 7:00 p.m.