by By Matt Mays, Troy Athletics
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Troy women’s basketball team dominated the second half and ran away with a 75-59 win over Texas State on Thursday night at Strahan Coliseum. The win was Troy’s sixth straight, marking the Trojans’ second six-game wining streak of the season.
Troy (18-7, 13-5) held Texas State to 25 percent shooting (10-of-40) in the second half and opened the half on a 13-0 run to take control for good. Ronita Garrett posted her 19th double-doubles of the season with 24 points and 12 rebounds, including 14 points and nine rebounds in the second half.
Caitlyn Ramirez (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma) posted 10 of her career-high 16 rebounds in the first half to help Troy withstand four Texas State (15-11, 10-7) 3-pointers. Troy closed the first half on a 6-0 run to take a 36-33 lead into the second half.
The Trojans then extended the lead to 19-0 as they scored the first 13 points of the second half. Texas State opened the half 0-of-9 from the field with five turnovers before Taeler Deer hit a jumper with 14:54 to go to cut the Troy lead to 49-35.
“Texas State shot great in the first half,” Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. “In the second half we changed defenses, and only intended to stay in that defense for two or three minutes, just to throw them off a little. But it was working well and we stuck with it.”
Texas State showed some life when four straight Troy turnovers turned into a 9-0 Texzs State run cut the Troy lead down to six, 54-48, with 9:32 to go.
However, the Bobcats never got closer than six as an Ashley Beverly-Kelley jumper with 6:30 to go sparked a 10-0 Troy run that the game out of reach. Troy went on to lead by as many as 19 with under a minute to go
Beverly-Kelley finished with 12 points, just her second game this month without 20 points. However, the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week posted a game-high five assists. Beverly-Kelley was also big in holding Ayriel Anderson, Texas State’s second leading scorer, to five points on 2-of-11 shooting
Deer scored 13 points for the Bobcats who lost their second straight game. Erin Peoples led Texas State with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Despite her efforts, Troy outrebounded the Bobcats, 48-42, including 28-18 in the second half.
Troy shot 46 percent (30-of-66) on the night while Texas State hit 30 percent (23-of-76), including 5-of-25 from long range. Troy hit 3-of-12 from deep.
Entering the game, Texas State was the only Sun Belt team Rigby had yet to defeat in her time at Troy. The previous three meetings had been close, decided by a combined 10 points, before Troy exploded for the 16-point win on Thursday night.
The Trojans now turn their attention to Georgia State on Saturday. The Panthers, who lost on Thursday night at UALR, will visit Trojan Arena for a 2 p.m. contest. Troy will be looking for the program’s first seven-game winning streak since 1992-93.
