Women’s basketball finishes season at Sun Belt quarterfinals

Troy’s women’s basketball team lost to Texas State 95-92 on senior night inside the friendly confines of the Trojan Arena Saturday, March 8, giving them the sixth seed for the Sun Belt Tournament in New Orleans. However, the Trojans met their match in the first round of play, as they fell to Arkansas-Little Rock, 66-54 on Wednesday, March 12.

In their game against Texas State, the Trojans were victim to a late Bobcat run after leading by as many as 11 points in the second half. In fact, Troy led for the entirety of the second half with Texas State not gaining the lead until a minute and a few seconds were left to play in the game. The game was sealed as Texas State shot 9-10 from the charity stripe in the final two minutes.

Troy, even with the loss, still managed to get three Trojans into double-digit scoring, led by senior guard Joanna Harden and junior forward Ronita Garrett, who finished with 22 points apiece. Sophomore guard Ashley Beverly-Kelley, who went for 20 points, and junior forward Kourtney Coleman, who ended with 10 points, were the other two Trojans who ended in double-figures.

Troy dominated in free throw percentages making 24 out of 26 shots at the free throw line and having a percentage of 92.3 while Texas State trailed with 78.8 percent.

In their Sun Belt Tournament opener, Troy saw two scoreless droughts early and late in the game to seal their fate against the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans. UALR used a 12-0 run to build a 36-28 halftime lead, along with a seven-minute scoring drought from Troy to finish off Troy’s record-breaking season, 66-54.

Troy was led by a 20-point performance by Coleman, while Harden, who added just 10 points and broke her streak of 15 games with 20-plus points, was the only other Troy Trojan to reach double figures against the conference’s best defensive team.

Harden ended her outstanding playing career at Troy last Wednesday, finishing seventh in the entire NCAA in points per game for the 2014 season with 25.1. She and Beverly-Kelley also received All-Sun Belt honors prior to the Sun Belt Tournament, with Harden named first-team all-conference and Beverly-Kelley named second-team.

Head coach Chanda Rigby finished her second season as Troy’s head coach with her second straight five-win improvement, finishing with a 12-18 overall record, including sixth place and an 8-10 finish in the Sun Belt.