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Troy has been selected as the Sun Belt women’s basketball preseason favorites for the second straight season and third time in the last six years, the league announced Wednesday.

Troy, the defending Sun Belt Tournament champions, received 11 of the 12 first place votes by the league’s head coaches (coaches could vote for their own team) and received 142 total points, while Louisiana was picked to finish second with 124 points and the other first place vote.

“With so many great teams and coaches in the Sun Belt, it is a huge honor to be chosen number one in the preseason polls,” head coach Chanda Rigby said. “It’s a new team, a new season and we have new goals. One of those goals will be to prove the pollsters right.”

The Trojans are led by the reigning Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year in junior forward Felmas Koranga after she averaged a double-double with 12.8 points and 11.1 rebounds in her debut season at Troy. Additionally, senior guard Jasmine Robinson is back for her fifth season, coming off a season in which she averaged 11.2 points per game and joined Troy’s 1,000-point club.

Troy is coming off its third Sun Belt Tournament Championship, fourth overall Sun Belt Title, and its third NCAA Tournament appearance under Rigby. Troy made national headlines in the NCAA Tournament against No. 2 seed Texas A&M when it erased a 16-point deficit to lead the Aggies late in the fourth quarter before narrowly falling to the Aggies by just four points. Troy’s 80-points scored was the third-most points scored by a 15 seed in NCAA tournament history.

Troy’s run-and-gun offense ranked third in the country last year blitzing the nets for 86.0 points per game, while the Trojan defense dominated the glass with an NCAA-best 32.8 defensive rebounds per game. Troy’s offensive rebounding was just as strong, with the Trojans finishing second in the country at 19.3 offensive boards per game.

The Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference Teams will be released on Thursday, and the Trojans open the 2021-22 season on Tuesday, Nov. 9, against Talladega College in Trojan Arena. The official kick off to the season is Thursday, Nov. 4, at 5:30 p.m. with Trojan Madness in Trojan Arena.