by By Matt Hays
TROY, Alabama – The Sun Belt’s top offense and top defense met on Thursday night as the Troy women’s basketball team pulled away in the third quarter to win its fourth straight game, beating UT Arlington, 88-71, at Trojan Arena.
Troy (9-5, 4-1) scored 30 points in the third quarter to build a 20-point lead against UT Arlington (7-7, 2-2) who came in giving up a Sun Belt-low 53 points per game. Troy, with the nation’s sixth best offense at 85 points per game, surpassed the 53-point mark with 4:04 to go in the third and never looked back.
Ashley Beverly Kelley, the Sun Belt’s leading scorer, topped her season average with 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting. The senior also grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds to notch a double-double while also adding a team-high five assists.
ArJae’ Saunders chipped in a career-high 19 points in just 23 minutes to become the second Trojan in double figures. Amanda Mendoza added 11 points and Caitlyn Ramirez (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma) added 10 and seven rebounds for Troy.
Troy also got nine rebounds from Kristen Emerson and outrebounded UT Arlington, 47-34, to post its biggest rebounding margin of the season for the second straight game.
“UT Arlington is a fine team. We thought they were going to be the toughest team in our conference to outrebound,” Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. “But we did come away with the rebound advantage. We didn’t create as many turnovers as we thought we needed to, but we still found a way to win.”
UT Arlington had just 13 turnovers, the fewest forced by Troy this season, but the Trojans shot 51 percent (30-of-59) and held the Mavericks to 34 percent (25-of-73). Troy shot over 50 percent in each but the second quarter, but held UTA to 22 percent (4-of-18) in that second quarter to take a 35-31 lead at the break.
Troy then opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run to jump ahead, 43-31. The lead was up to 21 by late in the third quarter as Troy committed just one of its 20 turnovers and UTA committed five in the decisive frame. When all was said and done, Troy outscored UT Arlington, 30-14, in the third quarter.
Troy’s lead grew to as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter, but when UT Arlington began to pressure full court Troy got a bit sloppy and the Mavericks cut the lead to as little as 12 points.
The Trojans had a big night from long range, hitting 10-of-19 to shoot over 50 percent for the third time this season. It was also Troy’s fifth game with at least 10 triples as Beverly Kelley (3-of-6), Mendoza (2-of-3) and Saunders (2-of-2) all hit multiple from deep.
UT Arlington got a career night from Cierra Johnson who scored 26 points on 9-of-16 overall and 5-of-8 from deep. Rebekah VanDijk posted a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, but 6-foot-5 sophomore struggled from the field, hitting just 5-of-14.
Troy remains in second place in the Sun Belt at 4-1 in league play, but will have a tough one on Saturday when Texas state comes to Trojan Arena at 3-1 in Sun Belt play after a win over South Alabama on Thursday. The Trojans and Bobcats will tip off at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
