Troy Trojans, filled with ties to the Pensacola-area, pick up SBC quarterfinals victory
The Sun Belt Conference women's basketball tournament hosted its quarterfinal round on Friday with fans getting their first peek at the top-four seeds.
One of those, the No. 1-seeded Troy Trojans, came to town led by former local names: Chanda Rigby, who coached the Pensacola State women from 2005-2012 and Amber Leggett, a Navarre native who starred at Choctaw.
And they likely couldn't have asked for much more from a homecoming. Albeit a slower-than-usual start, the Trojans walked all over No. 9 seed Coastal Carolina in a 99-77 blowout from the Pensacola Bay Center.
With the win, they advance to Sunday's semifinal round.
The longer that Rigby and Leggett stick around, the more likely they are to experience these types of nostalgic moments.
Men's results: Bob Marlin and the Ragin' Cajun stave off Mavericks comeback, move forward in SBC Tourney
"The first thing when I came out of the locker room, I saw John Noski on the rail," Rigby said. "He just retired from Pensacola State College but he was our bus driver the whole time I was there. And he's way more than a bus driver, he's part of our team and that was just one that I saw … I saw a lot of friendly faces in the crowd."
Those long-time connections got to watch the coach and player duo do what they did most of the time they were in the Pensacola area: win.
Troy, which is tied for fifth in the country in points per game with 79.4, got off to a helter-skelter start, though. By shooting just 5-for-14 from the field in the first quarter, the Trojans found themselves in a rock fight with the Chanticleers, who were an even worse 5-for-16.
But they quickly righted the ship, shooting 60 percent in the ensuing quarter to take a 46-35 lead into the halftime break.
From there, the Trojans, who "strive to score 120 every game,” were off to the races. Four of their players scored in double digits while Leggett was second on the team with a +20 mark in just 14 minutes, 30 seconds of action. Hampered by foul trouble, she concluded the contest with nine points and three assists.
"Though both teams have deep benches, our bench just ramped it up to another level," Rigby said. "Our starters were playing toe-to-toe with them, but when you sub and people like Jhileiya (Dunlap) come in … you know, it takes you to another level."
Dunlap finished with a team-high 20 points off the bench. When she fouled out late in the fourth quarter, the Troy faithful gave her a well-deserved standing ovation.
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“I can't say enough about Jhileiya Dunlap. She had a huge game," Rigby said. "Every time I call home and tell everybody how things are going, I can't say enough about Jhileiya."
The Trojans will now keep an eye on the game between No. 5 Arkansas-Little Rock and No. 4 Appalachian State, as they'll draw the winner on Sunday.
As for Coastal Carolina, they end their season with a respectable 15-11 record.
Other games
No. 5 Little Rock 70, No. 4 Appalachian State 58
The first top-four seed has been eliminated from the tournament as Little Rock picked up a victory over Appalachian State, something they've become familiar with over the years.
This result makes it five of the last six years that Little Rock has ousted Appalachian State from Sun Belt Conference tournament play, and 14 of the last 15 years that the Trojans have advanced to the SBC semifinal round.
They draw a matchup with No. 1 seed Troy on Sunday.
The way that Little Rock got it done this time around was on the glass. They outrebounded the Mountaineers by 23 on the night, most importantly getting 18 of those on the offensive glass.
Senior Dariel Johnson and junior Angelique Francis grabbed 15 and 11 of those, respectively.
"That's what gets the job done, going in there aggressive. You can't allow the other team to take what's yours," Francis said
They were also aggressive busting the Mountaineers' patented 2-3 zone. Rather than pushing the ball up the floor, Little Rock took its time and attacked the zone's weak points.
By posting up and then sending backdoor cutters, they kept Appalachian State's zone shifting, and found weaknesses.
"Zone, especially last year, it really gave us trouble," Trojans assistant Steve Wiedower said. "We spent a lot of time this season getting our players more comfortable attacking zones … I felt like our players really responded today and they have one of the toughest zones we played against all year."
Sophomore Sali Kourouma was the main Trojan finding open space, scorching the Mountaineers for 24 points.
Appalachian State's season comes to a close with a record of 14-12.
No. 3 Louisiana 71, No. 6 Texas State 46
The Ragin' Cajun showed why they earned a first-round bye, registering a wire-to-wire win over the Bobcats.
In its first-round game on Wednesday, Texas State pounded South Alabama with forward Da'Nasia Hood scoring 33 points. She was the beneficiary of great guard play from Kennedy Taylor, who collected eight assists.
On Friday, neither of those two things carried over as Louisiana executed their game plan to perfection.
"Our game plan was to try to keep it out of Kennedy Taylor's hands so that they couldn't really get comfortable in their offense," Ragin' Cajun head coach Garry Brodhead said. "When you do that, you also take out Da'Nasia Hood … (the Bobcats) are averaging 68 points a game and we held them to 46. I have to give a lot of credit to our defense."
That's been the expectation for them as of late, relinquishing a season-low 48 points to Georgia State on Feb 24. That record lasted for just eight days as they allowed a new season-low on Friday night.
"We're a team defense, it's not an individual defense," Brodhead said. "There are three positions: on the line, on the ball or in help and we work on it all the time … a lot of times, 75 percent of our practice is defense and if you're going to play for us, you have to defend."
Louisiana advances to Sunday’s semifinal versus the winner of UT-Arlington and Georgia Southern. Meanwhile, Texas State's season comes to a halt at 15-14.
No. 2 UT - Arlington 85, No. 7 Georgia Southern 76
The nightcap featured the first and only game of the quarterfinal round that had a final score decided by single digits.
However, the Mavericks were up by double digits most of the game, even extending their lead to 19 points at one juncture.
On the heels of 25 points and 12 rebounds in her regular-season finale, standout forward Starr Jacobs kicked off tournament play with 28 points and nine rebounds. She got well-rounded help from teammate Terryn Milton who finished with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists.
This win gives them just their second win in their last seven tournament games.
”(Our players) were aware of that, I actually made that reference after the end of practice yesterday," Mavericks head coach Shereka Wright said. "You need to get the first game in this three-game season. … You got your first one marked off, but then you move on to the next two. But again, you have to focus on one game at a time and I thought our kids did that tonight."
To ensure their moving on, UTA hit their shots from the charity stripe. They had 40 attempts from the free-throw line, converting on 31 of those tries.
In the fourth quarter, they went 12-of-14 from the line to put the game to rest.
"It helped us a lot. It's something that we've focused in on this year and something that has helped in multiple games," said senior Claire Chastain, who went 3-of-4 from the line. "It's a goal that we have getting to the line a certain amount of times."
UTA advances to Sunday’s semifinal action against Louisiana. Georgia Southern will head home with an 18-10 record for the season.
Lucas Semb can be reached at Lsemb@pensacol.gannett.com or 850-281-7414. Follow him on Twitter at @Lucas_Semb for stories and various Pensacola area score updates.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Troy Trojans stomp all over Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in SBC tourney
