Women's Basketball

Top-Seeded Troy Survives Test From Fifth-Seeded Little Rock; Advances To Finals of Hercules Tires Sun Belt Women’s Basketball Championship

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PENSACOLA, Fla. – Jhileiya Dunlap scored a team-high 18 points and Amber Leggett added 13 as top-seeded Troy overcame an 11-point deficit and held off an upset bid from fifth-seeded Little Rock for a 62-59 victory on Sunday in the semifinal round of the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Championships at the Pensacola Bay Center. 

Troy (24-7) advances to the championship game, where it will face the winner between second-seeded UTA and third-seeded Louisiana. That game was ongoing at press time. The finals of the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Women’s Basketball Championship are slated for a 1 p.m. CT tip on Monday. The game will be nationally televised by ESPNU. Troy will vie for its fourth all-time Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Women's Basketball Championship, after also winning in 2016, 2017 and 2021.

Troy, which trailed by as many as 11 points late in the second quarter and entered the halftime locker room down 30-26, came out of intermission on a 15-6 run to go in front 41-36 with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter. Troy extended its advantage to eight with 9:46 left in the game, but Little Rock continued to battle. 

With 10 seconds remaining and Troy leading 61-59, Little Rock’s Sali Kourouma attempted a put-back that went off the mark. As she was sailing out of bounds, Troy’s Tina Stephens snagged the rebound and threw it off of a Little Rock player to gain possession. Troy was fouled on the ensuing play and Jasmine Robinson made one of two free throws to clinch the game. 

Troy shot 44.4 percent (24-of-54) from the field in the game, while Little Rock connected on 37.5 percent (24-of-64) of its shots. Troy held a 41-30 edge on the boards and a 32-22 advantage in points in the paint. 

Five Troy players scored seven or more points as part of a balanced attack. Dunlap’s 18 points came on 7-for-11 shooting, while Leggett was 6-for-10 from the field for 13 points. Stephens brought down a game-high 10 rebounds to complement seven points. 

Little Rock (17-10) was led by Kourouma’s 27 points. Raziya Potter added 14. Little Rock head coach Joe Foley concludes his time in the Sun Belt Conference as the league's winningest all-time coach with 377 victories overall and 231 wins in league contests.