by By Wes Johnson
TROY, Alabama – Freshman Kayla Robinson scored a career-high 23 points as the Troy women’s basketball team scored 35 points in the third quarter to pull away from Arkansas State 90-77 on Thursday in Trojan Arena.
Robinson, whose previous career-high of 19 points came on Dec. 14 against Nicholls State, scored her entire allotment in the final three quarters on 11-of-17 shooting. Senior ArJae’ Saunders finished with 19 points and four assists. Caitlyn Ramirez (Seminole) turned in her 13th double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds, the 12thconsecutive game with 12 or more points.
With both teams struggling to shoot the ball in the first quarter, Arkansas State managed to break down the Troy defense long enough to string together a 15-0 run after the Trojans scored the first five points of the contest. A pair of 3-pointers by Amanda Mendoza kept Troy conscious and trailing by only six, 16-10, at the end of the period.
Robinson burst onto the scene midway through the second quarter to jump start the offense with consecutive baskets giving Troy a 26-22 lead. Robinson missed her first two shots, but misfired on just four of her last 15.
The Trojans dominated in the paint outscoring Arkansas State 48-22. Paced by 17 points off turnovers, Troy scored 35 points in the third quarter alone. After hitting just 23 percent from the field in the first quarter, Troy shot 41.3 percent for the game.
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“It was definitely good to get this win at Trojan Arena against a good team,” Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. “We are so proud of the effort we had from freshman Kayla Robinson as our high scorer, she did some really great things for us. She hasn’t been completely healthy, but we saw some really big strides from her this week. What I’m really proud of is that in the second half the team looked to really be having fun together for the first time in a really long time.”
UP NEXT
Troy plays its final home game of the regular season on Saturday against league leaders Little Rock. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and the Senior Day ceremony will be held at halftime of the men’s game, which is set to immediately follow the conclusion of the women’s contest.
