Chanda Rigby gives thoughts on team’s upcoming season
With basketball season officially underway, Troy women’s basketball looks to switch things up on the court .
After finishing the 2025-206 season 25–8 overall, 15–3 in Sun Belt Conference play and with an appearance in the WBIT, head coach Chanda Rigby said the team is doing things a different way this year.
“We are so hungry to get back, and even success doesn't mean much to us unless we're holding the number one trophy,” Rigby said. “I believe that when you are a little bit of an underdog, you find new pathways to win, and we need a new path.
“We've relied on rebounding, which is great, but we need some new pathways because year after year, the Sun Belt Conference has brought in new and better talent. You can't keep winning using old tricks, so that's what this young team is forcing us to do, which is carve out new pathways to the goal of where we're trying to get to.”
The team is also experiencing a rebrand with new faces added to the roster. Eight seniors graduated from the program, leaving empty spots to be filled.
“Usually, we replace those upper classmen with other upper classmen and this year, we have five true freshmen that have come into the program, which is a first for me,” Rigby said. “It's a lot of excitement around it, because the goal has not changed.
“The goal is to bring another Sun Belt Conference Championship to Troy and to make a run in the NCAA.”
In the process of meeting that goal, Rigby pointed out that the team must be the most improved Sun Belt team, and the Trojans look to do just that with its new roster.
Guard Aniya Hubbard was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year and has been the leading scorer throughout her college career with the Florida Atlantic. Forward Aniya Finger led her team when she was at North Carolina Central and received the BOXTOROW HBCU Division I Women’s Basketball All-American Second Team last season.
“They're the two players that have experienced volume scoring and volume rebounding,” Rigby said. "They've both been in the fight, many fights, and came out being the ones that had to swing to win the fights.
"Those two are leading the way in that regard and showing the younger ones how to do that because here, we like volume rebounds and volume shots, and they have experience in doing that.”
With three returners and ten newcomers, five being first-years, Rigby said each player is very talented despite being a young team.
“It's not like we're going into the season with young players who are at their ceiling or anything like that,” Rigby said. “They're young players that are going to keep getting better.
"Even though an experienced team might be playing on a higher level than us at the beginning of the year, eventually we plan on passing a team that might have mature players but may be not as talented as us.
“It's all fun and that pre-conference schedule just prepares us for our goal of being successful in Sun Belt Conference.”
Troy took on Tuskegee for its pre-season exhibition on Tuesday night at Trojan Arena. The Trojans will have their season opener on Monday, Nov. 2, as they travel to Kent, Ohio, to take on Kent State at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center for the MAC-SBC Challenge.
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