By Sean Holohan

For the second straight game, a late second-half surge proved the undoing of the Troy women’s basketball team as the Trojans were handed their second straight Sunday night at Clemson in Littlejohn Coliseum.

Late in the first half with just 3:29 to go before half, Troy (0-2) found themselves up with a 32-27 lead. But in the closing minutes, the Tigers rallied, scoring 11-staight points, taking a 38-32 lead into half time.

Defensive woes continued in the second half, as Troy was down by as many as 13 in the second half, but the Trojans’ offense cut that lead down to five points twice.  That was the closest Troy would come to regaining the lead in the game.

“The let down was the last four minutes of the second half,” Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said.  “We lost intensity there.  We had long spans where we played with great intensity, but we lost it during that stretch.  We did a lot of things better then them and we just need to build off of that between now and Friday.”

Senior forward Ronita Garrett led Troy with a double-double in her second straight game, with 16 points and 10 rebounds.  Caitlyn Ramirez and Ashley Beverly-Kelley each had 10 points and five rebounds.

Troy outrebounded Clemson 43-40, but lost the turnover battle 23-18.

Troy was just 10-of-15 from the free-throw line, while Clemson was 24-of-27.

Troy returns to the court on Friday when it hosts Southeastern Louisiana at Trojan Arena at 12 p.m. in the Trojans’ home opener.  Troy has not started 0-3 in either of Rigby’s first two seasons.