Women's basketball falls in Sun Belt title game

Troy women's basketball split their two games in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and finished runner-up in the conference. 

In their first game on Sunday, the Trojans took down Arkansas State, 83-73. The dynamic duo of Zay Dyer and Fortuna Ngnawo led Troy, with Dyer earning her 23rd double-double of the year with 24 points and 10 rebounds.  

The 10 rebounds would put Dyer over the 1,000-rebound mark, making her the first Trojan in Division I history to score 1,000 points and earn 1,000 rebounds and the fourth all-time. She also broke her own record for most rebounds in a single season for Troy, with 415 on the year after all the Sun Belt Tournament action. 

Ngnawo would score 18 points and have nine rebounds against the Red Wolves. Ashley Baez and Rachel Leggett would also have double digit points with 14 and 12, respectively. 

“This team was so prepared, and these young women have grown in so many ways,” said head coach Chanda Rigby. “The way they handled adversity tonight was something that teams in years past couldn’t have done it.” 

In the Sun Belt Championship, however, the Trojans couldn’t stop James Madison, as the Dukes would win, 69-52. JMU would take an early 13-0 lead and never trail en route to its second Sun Belt Tournament Championship in four years as part of the conference. 

Ngnawo matched her point total mark from the previous night and earned 12 rebounds, while Zay Dyer had 11 rebounds of her own. 

However, James Madison outrebounded Troy, 43-42, making it the first time this year the Trojans lost the rebound battle against a Sun Belt foe. 

“This game was lost in the first few minutes of the first and third quarters,” Rigby said. “That run James Madison made at the beginning of the game was incredible, but after we weathered that, we chipped back and made it a game. 

“We lost to a very good James Madison team today. They worked very hard to get that title.” 

After an historic year, the Trojans now await a possible invite to a postseason tournament.

While a NCAA bid is unlikely, Troy could keep its streak of three straight postseason appearances alive and are looking for the sixth bid in the last seven seasons.  

“We’re heartbroken right now, but without a shred of doubt, we deserve a bid into a postseason tournament,” Rigby said. “We are a 25-win program with some of the best players and coaches in the nation.  

“We deserve a shot to keep this going.” 

The Trojans finish the tournament with a 25-7 record and a 15-3 conference record.