Rivers’ Career Night Leads Trojans Past Alabama State
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Sophomore Amber Rivers scored 24 points and hauled in 10 rebounds leading Troy to a 93-63 win over Alabama State at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome on Thursday.
Rivers scored 16 points in the first half including 10 of the team's 26 in the second quarter en route to her first career double-double. The Birmingham native's previous career-high came in November of last season when she scored 13 against Armstrong State.
After turnovers cost Troy (2-0) an early lead, River drew a foul and knocked down two of the eight free throws she made on the night spurring a 9-1 run as the Trojans regained a 17-16 advantage at the end of the first quarter. The lead swelled to 14 by halftime and finally 20 on Jasmine Robinson's 3-pointer with 6:15 remaining in the game.
Harriet Winchester reached double digits for the first time this season and the fourth time in her career finishing with 10 points and four assists.
Shamyiah Smith and Kayla Stephens led the Hornets (1-2) offensively with 12 and 10 points respectively, while Tatyana Calhoun swatted away three shots in the game.
QUOTABLE
"I thought we came out and played with a lot of energy," Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. "We were able to get everyone quality minutes against a good opponent. Now it's all about resting up and getting ready to play Ole Miss on Tuesday."
UP NEXT
Troy plays the second of three straight road games on Tuesday as the team visits Oxford, Miss., to take on Ole Miss. The schools have only ever met once – a 97-59 Rebel victory in 1981.
NOTEWORTHY
• The win marked the seventh straight for Troy over Alabama State.
• The Trojans have scored 80 points in each game this season. It's the first time Troy has scored 80+ points twice to open a season since Chanda Rigby first season in 2012. However, both of those game resulted in a loss.
• Troy was 8 of 19 (42.1 percent) from 3-point range on Thursday after going 3 for 18 in the season opener.
Big Runs Lead Mercer Past GS Women's Basketball, 72-45
MACON, Ga. - The Mercer University women's basketball team opened the game on a 16-0 run to claim a 72-45 non-conference victory over visiting Georgia Southern on Thursday evening at Hawkins Arena in Macon.
The Bears remained unbeaten on the year at 3-0, while the Eagles fell to 1-2. Georgia Southern will face a second straight postseason squad in its next action on Sunday, hosting Alabama in a 2 p.m. tip at Hanner Fieldhouse.
When these two teams met in Statesboro a year ago, the score was tied 6-all in the first quarter when the Bears used a 16-0 run to pull away and claim a 77-56 win. This time in Macon, Mercer would hit five of its first seven shots from the floor to open up the contest on a 16-0 run, before a three-pointer by senior Alexis Foulks with 4:54 left in the period halted the run.
Mercer would hit 10-of-19 shots from the floor in building a 27-10 lead at the end of the first period. The Bears would lead by 19, 32-13, on a three-pointer by Linnea Rosendal, but the Georgia Southern defense would hold Mercer without a point the rest of the period, allowing the Eagles to go on an 8-0 run and cut the lead to 11 at the break, 32-21.
"I was really proud of our kids [during that stretch]," Head Coach Kip Drown said. "I thought we had to switch and go some man, something we've been working on hard since the exhibition game, and I thought we got down and guarded really hard. Then we started making some baskets and got back into the game."
The second half would open with Mercer on an 11-0 run, building a 43-21 lead with 6:30 left in the third quarter as the Eagles turned the ball over on eight straight possessions during the stretch. The Bears ended the period outscoring Georgia Southern 27-7 to build a 59-28 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, the Eagles shot better from the three-point range (4-8) but the lead built by the Bears was insurmountable as Mercer closed out the 27-point win.
"I was a little disappointed in the second half," Coach Drown said. "We got a great shot to start the half, but it didn't go, then we turned it over a few times in a row and that turned into a few layups. a few was layups. We just didn't respond as well as we did in the second quarter.
"Overall, there were some positives," Coach Drown said. "I looked out at the floor at times and we had three sophomores, a junior and a senior on the floor. Our kids battled for the most part, but we just couldn't overcome the turnovers on the second run in the third quarter."
Nakol Franks, who had a career-high 26 points when these two teams met last year, led the Eagles with nine points on 3-of-8 shooting from three-point range. KeKe Calloway led a quartet of Bears in double figures with 17 points.
The Eagles finished the night shooting 28.6 percent from the field (14-of-49), while hitting 9-of-23 threes (39.1 percent) and 8-of-13 from the free throw line (61.5 percent). Mercer shot 43.8 percent from the field (28-of-64), while hitting 7-of-13 three-pointers (53.8 percent) and 9-of-10 foul shots (90 percent). Georgia Southern turned the ball over a season-high 24 times, compared to 10 for the Bears, and Mercer had a slight edge on the glass, outrebounding the Eagles by one, 38-37.
PANTHERS FALL AT NO. 4 BULLDOGS
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Georgia State was defeated Thursday night in Starkville, Miss., by the No. 4 Mississippi State Bulldogs at Humphrey Coliseum.
Georgia State lost 106-50 and fell to 0-2 on the season. The Panthers struggled to combat the size of Mississippi State, as the Bulldogs outrebounded the Panthers 38-21 and forced 28 turnovers on the defensive end.
Three Panthers finished in double figures with Shay Fluker leading the way with 12 points. Jada Lewis added 11 points and Kierra Henry tallied 10. Juliet James led the team in rebounds with six.
Mississippi State played full-court defense on nearly every possession in the first half and held Georgia State to just 23% shooting from the field. A bright spot for the Panthers was their free throw shooting as GSU finished 17-for-20 at the stripe.
Mississippi State, last season's NCAA Tournament runner-ups, entered the game ranked fourth in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll and seventh in the AP Poll. The game was the first against a ranked opponent for GSU since playing No. 13 Old Dominion in the 2007-08 season. The Bulldogs are the highest ranked-team to face GSU since the Panthers played No. 3 North Carolina during that same 2007-08 season.
Georgia State will play its third Power-5 opponents in a row next Tuesday as GSU goes across town to face Georgia Tech at McCamish Pavilion.