Troy women’s basketball fought through an early 10-point deficit on their way to a 70-50 win over in-state opponent Alabama State Saturday at Trojan Arena.

The win marked the program’s 500th overall victory.

Senior forward Ronita Garrett lead the way for Troy (4-3), with her fifth double-double of the season, recording 16 points and 13 rebounds. And junior guard Ashley Beverly-Kelley, not to be outdone, added a double-double of her own, scoring 15 points and collecting 11 rebounds on the night. Beverly-Kelley also dished out a team-high four assists.

After sinking their first basket of the game, the Trojans went cold from the field, making one of their next 17 shots. Alabama State (2-4) took advantage, jumping out to an early 15-5 lead.

But with just under 10 minutes to go in the first half, Garrett hit a jumper from the top of the key, snapping the Trojans’ cold streak. From there, Troy went 11-of-14 shooting from the field including an 8-0 run to close out the second half before going into the locker room up 34-27.

“We went to our zone, trapping defense and that created a lot of turnovers that we could score off of,” Troy head coach Chanda Rigby said.  “After that defense started to work we were able to score in the offense a little bit, but before that we just weren’t able to score.”

In the second half, Troy turned up the heat defensively on the Lady Hornets, allowing them to shoot just 24 percent from the field.

And although Troy finished the night shooting just 34 percent from the field, their defense picked up the slack, as Alabama State never got within less than eight points of the Trojans’ second-half lead.

The Trojans also forced 36 turnovers in the game, including a season-high 22 steals.

Alabama State endured shooting woes of their own Saturday, going 20-of-67 from the field and just 2-of-16 from 3-point range.

Jasmine Peeples led Alabama State with 15 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks on the night. Daniele Ewert also recorded the game’s third double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Alabama State won the rebounding battle, 64-45, including 29 offensive boards.

Troy held Alabama State’s leading scorer, Britney Wright, to just two points.

Troy has now won four straight over Alabama State.