Sports Editor

The Troy State Lady Trojans got a double-double from Thea Herring and held off a late Stetson charge to hand the Hatters a 78-68 Atlantic Sun loss on Monday night.

The win improved TSU to 2-2 on the season and 2-0 in conference play.

"It was a great conference win over a team that came in with a road win already," said TSU head coach Jerry Hester. "They (Stetson) had a lot of experienced players back and they were real big down low."

The Lady Trojans came into the contest wanting to outrebound the larger Hatters. They succeeded by four, totalling 40 boards to Stetson’s 36.

Herring had 17 points and 13 boards for the Troy State.

The Lady Trojans led just 35-30 at

halftime, but came out and used a 10-2 run to build a 52-37 lead.

Stetson, however, came back.

The Hatters responded with a 10-0 run, cutting the lead to 56-51.

Point guard Kerri Fiehrer took it to the basket for two-points, but Stetson’s Kaisa Turre answered with a three-point play on the other end of the court.

Still up by only four, Herring hit a baseline jumper with one second left on the shot clock and Kim McGriff sank two straight free throws to give TSU a little added breathing room.

"The thing I was most proud of, was when we got that big lead and let them come back, we regrouped, came out and was still able to pull out the win," said Hester. "That’s what impressed me the most."

Chaquita Alexander had 15 points and Haley Konrad scored 10 for the Lady Trojans.

Fiehrer committed some early turnovers running the Lady Trojans’ offense, but came back to make several big assists late in the game. She had seven total in the contest and eight points.

"Kerri has had to sit out of the game for a year," said Hester about the sophomore. "She’s still trying to get back into her groove, but she’s a fine basketball player and her best play is yet to come. She’s such an unselfish kid and she overpenetrates a lot of times and gets herself in trouble. But we’re awful glad we have her on our team."

Eboni Long and Turre each had 11 for Stetson, while Amy White had 10 points.

The Lady Trojans have never lost a game to Stetson in Trojan Arena, going a perfect 5-0 with Tuesday’s win.