Women’s basketball falls in conference semifinals

Brady Fitch photo

Troy women’s basketball won one and lost one down in Pensacola, Florida, as the No. 3  seed Trojans held the Marshall Thundering Herd at bay Saturday afternoon before falling to the Arkansas Red Wolves for the third time in the 2024-25 season on Sunday night.

“It got away from us in the first, and we were Trojans who battled back.” said head coach Chanda Rigby in an interview with Troy Athletics after the Sunday loss. “We had groups that went in and laid it all on the line to come back.”

The blowout win over Marshall was the second meeting between the two teams this season and third overall, with the Trojans taking all three games in the brief history of the two teams.

It was the forwards who led the way in the win as Fortuna Ngnawo came off the bench to lead all scorers, dropping 19 points with 12 rebounds, while fellow forward Zay Dyer came up with 16 points of her own. Guard Briana Peguero also contributed double digit scoring as she poured in another consistent 10 points in the winning effort.

It was mostly a defensive showcase for the Trojans, as nine players finished with blocks, before blowing it open in the fourth quarter to win 85-54, a 31-point dismantling of the Thundering Herd. The win over Marshall also pushes the Trojans to 20 wins on the season, the ninth season Troy has done so under Coach Rigby.

In the performance Troy hauled in 62 rebounds, two off their season high of 64 against Oakwood in December. It was a balanced effort on the boards as Ngnawo led the way with 12 while Brianna Jackson added 10, and Shaulana Wagner notched eight rebounds.

Both teams started out hot, with the Trojans scoring first off a Peguero three before Marshall immediately fired back with a three of their own. Troy kept the offense up, pushing to a 12-7 lead before a 9-0 Marshall run gave them their first lead of the game.

Troy wouldn’t back down though, as it held Marshall to one more point in the quarter to take an 18-17 Trojan lead into the second quarter. The second quarter saw a lot more back-and-forth from the two teams.

The Trojans were able to find some offense midway through the quarter, extending their lead to 12 before the Thundering Herd cut the lead down to six, 40-34, before the halftime break.

Out of halftime, both teams stayed consist with Marshall getting as close as six, 49-43, before Troy ended the quarter on an 8-0 run in the last two minutes to start the scoring onslaught. Heading into the fourth, the Trojans held onto a 57-43 lead.

Troy kept the run going, pushing the lead to 20 points, 63-43, before a Marshall layup gave them their first points of the quarter. The Trojans would keep the Thundering Herd scoreless for the next four minutes while putting up 13 points of their own, a now 76-48 Trojan lead.

Over the next four minutes Troy would keep the offense rolling, putting up nine more points while holding Marshall to only six of its own. The 85-54 win pushed the Trojans into the semifinals for the first time since the 2021-22 season.

In the semifinals game, Troy would meet a similar fate as the first two meetings between the Trojans and Red Wolves of Arkansas State as the Red Wolves would defeat Troy 81-66.

The loss saw a balanced effort from the Trojans on offense as Peguero led the way with 17 points with Emani Jenkins going 4-for-7 from three to add 12 points. Senior guard Wagner added 11 points of her own.

The forwards Dyer and Jackson both poured in double-double performances too with Dyer putting up 10 points and 11 rebounds while Jackson added 10 points of her own with 15 rebounds.

Troy struck first, scoring a quick five points from a Leilani Guion three and Dyer layup but Arkansas State would quickly respond with five points of their own in quick succession. The Red Wolves attempted to put their signature fast paced offense to work but Troy would keep the pace, trailing 21-16 at the end of the first quarter.

The Red Wolves lit up the scoreboard out of the quarter break, quickly scoring eight unanswered points to balloon a five-point lead to 13 points. Troy found a quick response in a Wagner jumper before another 10-0 Red Wolves run put Troy down 39-18 mid-way through the second quarter.

Troy found some footing late in the quarter, going on its own 9-0 run to cut the lead down to 12 points going into the halftime break.

The third quarter saw the Trojans continue to battle back, cutting the lead all the way down to six points, 51-45, late in the quarter before another 14-2 Arkansas State run all but broke the Trojans back.

The Red Wolves didn’t leave much hope for the Trojans, only allowing Troy to get within eight points in the final quarter. The rest of the quarter saw Arkansas State hold a 10+ point lead with the Trojans falling 81-66.

The loss ends the Trojans bid for another Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship and possibly ends the 2024-25 season for Troy women’s basketball. The Trojans still have the possibility for a WNIT bid like the 2023-24 season. That 2023-24 season WNIT bid saw Troy win three straight games after falling short in the conference tournament.