The Trojan women’s basketball team went up against UL-Monroe, UL-Lafayette and its rival South Alabama in the past week, looking to continue its five-game winning streak.
Troy’s (10-8, 5-4) winning streak was broken against the ULM Warhawks (8-8, 2-5), Thursday Jan. 21. The Warhawks won 77-73.
The Trojans led through both the first half and the third quarter, but the Warhawks took their first lead of the second half with 2:25 to go. Although Troy answered every score, ULM put the game away on a single free throw with less than 16 seconds left.
Junior forward Caitlyn Ramirez led the team with 27 points, and senior guard Ashley Beverly-Kelley added 16.
In the fourth quarter, the Trojans put up only 4-of-18, and 2-of-8 from long range, to the Warhawks’ 9-of-16. Troy ended the game shooting 36 percent compared to the Warhawks’ 48 percent, and it forced one fewer turnover than ULM.
Troy looked to redeem itself in its next game against the UL-Lafayette (14-3, 7-1), but again it fell short. The Trojans held the lead until the fourth quarter.
Down by three with 17 seconds left, the Trojans turned the ball over. After leading three quarters, they got off only nine shots, committed seven turnovers and were outscored 21-12.
The highest scorer of the game was junior guard Ta’Kierra Gibbs, who made a career-high 17 points.
Though Troy beat ULL in both field goal and 3-point percentages, with 35 percent and 44 percent, respectively, the Ragin’ Cajuns came out on top with only 16 turnovers to Troy’s 23 and 10 steals to Troy’s five.
Troy returned home for a match against its rivals, the South Alabama Jaguars (8-10, 4-5). This game also took an unfortunate turn for the Trojans, as they lost a third straight game.
Though Troy shot only 27 percent in the first half, Jaguar turnovers ensured the Trojans shot twice as many times as the visiting team. The two teams went into halftime tied.
The shooting difference still favored the Jags, but Troy held a one-point lead going into the fourth quarter. South then went on a 6-0 run, including a missed Trojan layup that would have tied the game with half a minute left.
Junior guard ArJae’ Saunders led the team with 15 points, followed by Beverly-Kelley with 11 and Ramirez with 10.
South Alabama beat Troy all around with a 60 percent shooting percentage to Troy’s 32 percent, as well as in 3-pointers (22 percent to 19 percent), rebounds (39-37) and turnovers (32-21).
Troy has a chance to redeem itself on Thursday, Jan. 28, against Appalachian State in Trojan Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:15 p.m.
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