by HAMMOND, Louisiana – Ashley Beverly Kelley set Troy’s career steals record and the Troy women’s basketball team won an up-tempo game, 100-90, over Southeastern Louisiana at the University Center on Monday night.
Troy (5-4) forced Southeastern Louisiana into 40 turnovers and Beverly Kelley grabbed seven steals, bringing her career total to 213, the most in Troy history. The senior guard led Troy offensively as well with 24 points, including 22 in the second half, and eight assists. She hit shot 10-of-16 overall and also grabbed five rebounds.
The Trojans scored 38 points off of Southeastern’s turnovers and had 23 fast break points. Troy led by as many as 15 points, 73-58, late in the third quarter, but the Lady Lions cut the lead down to four, 85-81, midway through the fourth. Troy was able to seal the game, thanks in large part to a 22-of-24 effort at the free throw line.
Caitlyn Ramirez (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma) was 8-of-9 from the line and scored a season-high 19 points for Troy to go along with nine rebounds. Rachel Reid matched Ramirez with a season-high 19 points of her own, thanks in large part to three 3-pointers.
Claresa Banks, who made her first career start, also had three 3-pointers and scored a career-high 15 points. ArJae’ Saunders was the firth Trojan to reach double figures with a career-high 11 points, including four late free throws, to go along with four steals.
The win was Chanda Rigby‘s second in as many years over Southeastern Louisiana (1-9), her alma mater, in what was a homecoming for most of Troy’s coaching staff, which hails from different areas of south Louisiana.
Troy was outrebounded substantially (47-35) and saw Southeastern shoot 50 percent (30-of-60), but the Trojans pressured full court for 40 minutes, forcing the 40 turnovers, which led to Troy taking 22 more shots than the Lions. Troy hit 42 percent (34-of-82) overall and also connected on 10 3-pointers (10-of-35), compared to just four (4-of-17) from the Lady Lions.
The 40 turnovers were the most forced by Troy since at least 1999-2000 when opponent turnovers statistics are first available. The 100-point game was the fourth of the season for Troy and 10th in Chanda Rigby‘s 101 games as Troy’s head coach.
With the win, Troy finishes non-conference play with a 5-4 record for the second straight season. The Trojans open Sun Belt play on Wednesday, Dec. 30 when Arkansas State visits Trojan Arena.
