by TROY, Alabama – The Troy women’s basketball team played a slower game than normal, but proved it didn’t matter as the Trojans beat UL Lafayette, 68-63, at Trojan Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The game marked the first of two Play 4Kay games for the Trojans, who will again wear their pink uniforms next Saturday when UALR visits Trojan Arena.
Troy (15-9, 10-5) tied the program record for Sun Belt wins in a season, and did so by pulling away early and holding on late against a pesky UL Lafayette (16-8, 8-7) team. Ronita Garrett tied her own Troy Division I era (1993-present) record with 19 rebounds. She also posted 14 points for her Sun Belt leading 16th double-double of the season.
Ashley Beverly-Kelley scored a game-high 20 points, including three of Troy’s four 3-pointers, giving her 20-plus points in five of Troy’s last six games. Caitlyn Ramirez (Seminole Nation of Oklahoma) also scored in double figures with 11 points, including seven in the first half as Troy dominated the paint early.
“UL Lafayette is a very good, very well coached team,” Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said. “They are undersized but quick and forceful on defense. We wanted to slow the game down when they had the ball, and we did. But the challenge was to not let it lull us to sleep.”
Troy held the Cajuns to 19 percent (6-of-32) shooting in the first half and built a 13-point lead at the break, 34-21. UL Lafayette scored just two points in the paint in the first half as Ramirez and Garrett took control early.
The Trojans built the lead up to as many as 19 points early in the second half, but the Cajuns began to make a run from there. UL Lafayette used a 9-0 run over nearly four minutes to cut the lead to nine, 53-44, with 5:10 to go.
The game would go back-and-forth until the final minute when the Cajuns followed a 3-pointer with a steal and a layup to cut the lead down to four points, 64-60, with 41 seconds to go. UL Lafayette would get within four again with nine seconds remaining, but Troy hit enough free throws down the stretch to pick up the win.
Troy outrebounded the Ragin’ Cajuns, 50-41, but committed 22 turnovers while forcing just 18. The Cajuns outscored the Trojans in points off turnovers, 27-17.
The Trojans shot 43 percent (24-of-56) overall in the game while the Cajuns hit 30 percent (21-of-70) after the cold first half. UL Lafayette hit 10-of-27 from long range while Troy hit 4-of-15.
Keke Veal made five of the Cajuns 3-pointers, all in the second half, as she went to score 20 points, tying with Beverly-Kelley for game highs. Jaylyn Gordon, the Cajuns leading scorer, had 11 points in the first half, but Troy held her scoreless in the second half on 0-of-4 shooting.
The Trojans return to the court on Thursday when they travel to take on Georgia Southern at Hanner Fieldhouse at 4 p.m. CT.
