Adriana Jones (23) and the Troy bench celebrates.
Troy women’s basketball continues their winning ways as they push their win streak to six with a blowout win over rival South Alabama and a revenge victory over Louisiana.
In a thrilling instate rivalry game, the Trojans led the whole way against South Alabama, beating the Jaguars by a final score of 99-60. Senior Emani Jenkins who left her mark, scoring 19 points off 4-for-6 shooting from 3-point range to bag a new career high while adding nine rebounds.
Jenkins wasn’t the only one with a hot hand, as the Trojans shot 13-for-26 from 3-point land as team, the first time Troy has hit 13 threes since playing Texas State in 2019.
Right there with Jenkins were three familiar names on the stat sheet in seniors Ashley Baez and Briana Peguero, and junior Zay Dyer. Baez chipped in her own 19 point, eight-rebound performance. Peguero added 15 points while Dyer contributed 11 to round out the Trojans’ double-digit scoring efforts.
“It was special that we shot 50 percent from the 3-point line,” said head coach Chanda Rigby in an interview with Troy Athletics. “I’m overall very pleased and even more proud that two of our wing guards neared double-doubles in Ashley and Emani.”
The Jaguars kept it close at 11-9 before Troy went on a 14-point run to open the floodgates. The Trojans ended quarter one up 35-17, their highest scoring quarter of the season with the previous high being 32 against Oakwood.
Troy let off the gas in the second but still held the Jaguars to only 11 points compared to the Trojans 15. The low scoring quarter still kept the Trojans on pace to score 100 as they led 50-28 going into the half.
Out of the half, the Trojans kept the pace, outscoring the Jaguars 25-14 in the quarter to go into the final frame up 75-42.
It was much of the same in the final quarter as Troy reached their highest lead of the game at 40 as they led the Jaguars 97-57 with two minutes left in the game before Jaguars got three points back to make it a 39-point Troy victory.
Saturday night’s game, on the other hand, was a game of revenge as the Trojans beat the Ragin’ Cajuns, who knocked Troy out of the Sun Belt Conference tournament last year in surprising fashion.
It was a team effort in the win as senior Fortuna Ngnawo shined with 13 points and 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double in a Trojan uniform. Fellow senior Brianna Jackson added 11 points of her own while Dyer poured in 10 points and eight rebounds.
Guards Peguero and Jenkins also kept their hot hands going as Peguero contributed a team-high 16 points with Jenkins scoring 10 of her own.
The Trojans found themselves in a hole early, trailing 21-13 at the end of the first quarter to a tough Cajuns squad. Louisiana kept their momentum going into the second quarter before the Trojans found their footing.
After Louisiana got out to a 27-19 lead early in the second quarter, Troy went on a 14-1 run to push their advantage to 33-28. The Cajuns fought back, with the Trojans going into halftime holding a slim 36-33 lead.
Troy jumped out of halftime firing on all cylinders as they started the third quarter on an 18-2 run to show the might of the Trojan offense. From there, Troy held a double-digit lead for the rest of the game before Louisiana free throws at the end would get the Cajuns within single digits again.
The two wins put the Trojans at 6-1 in conference play off a six-game win streak. Troy now hits the road for the next four games as they visit Texas State before making the return trip to Louisiana. After those two games, they take on Arkansas State and Southern Miss for their first matchups with both teams this season.
Troy next returns to Trojan Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. when they play host to Old Dominion.
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