Troy Women's Basketball fall in Sun Belt Tournament Championship

PENSACOLA, Fla. (TROJANVISION) — Despite a historic and record-breaking season, Troy could not stop James Madison, as the Dukes took the Sun Belt Tournament championship, 69-52.

JMU outrebounded Troy 43-42, the first time this season the Trojans were outrebounded against a Sun Belt foe. The Dukes took an early 13-0 lead, but Troy would have a rally during the second quarter.

“In the first quarter, they got way ahead of us,” said head coach Chanda Rigby. “We were missing some reads, we were missing some assignments, and it kinda rattled us and it’s hard to come back and make shots after that.”

“I’m proud of them once they settled down after that run that James Madison made in the first quarter. We were able to dig back into it before the half.”

Despite the momentum, the Trojans would turn the ball over multiple times to start the second half, which would lead to the Dukes taking back control of the contest.

“We came out at the beginning of the third quarter with three straight turnovers when we were probably the most amped up and wanting to play the best. We had some momentum going, we just needed to carry it out, but unfortunately we turned the ball over three times and they scored off them.

However, Fortuna Ngnawo led the team in points and rebounds with 18 and 12 respectively. Zay Dyer had eleven rebounds to extend her single-season troy record to 415 and also had four blocks on the night, while Emani Jenkins and Rachel Leggett backed the team up with eight points a piece. Despite losing out on a bid to the NCAA tournament, Rigby believes Troy deserves a shot at postseason play with a track record to back it up.

“We’re the queens of second chances,” Rigby said. “We’re gonna make the best of the chance we get.”

“We approach it as everyone’s heart’s broken in postseason if you don’t make the NCAA tournament. We’re the queens of getting up after a broken heart. We’re the best at it, there’s no team better at it if you look at our record of what we’ve done when we get that opportunity of postseason play.”

As for now, the Trojans sit at 25-7 on the year with as they wait for a possible postseason invite for their third straight postseason tournament.