Troy falls to Belmont at home
Published 8:29 am Thursday, November 30, 2023
- Troy’s Ja’Mia Hollings (11) guards Charles Henderson graduate Tuti Jones (0) of Belmont in a game at Trojan Arena on Nov. 29. (Photo courtesy of Belmont University Athletics)
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The Troy Trojans dropped their Wednesday night home game to the Belmont Bruins by a score of 72-68 on Nov. 29.
Troy found itself in foul trouble for much of the game, giving up 24 personal fouls, while Belmont shot a total of 32 free throws in the contest. After falling behind 22-10 in the first quarter, Troy rebounded to cut the lead to 40-32 at halftime. The Trojans went into the third quarter trailing 58-50 but managed to cut the lead to four points with 2:16 remaining to play. Belmont sealed things with a 4-0 run in the final two minutes, however.
The two sides were even on the boards, both teams earning 46 rebounds but Troy won the turnover battle by forcing 14 turnovers to just nine Trojan turnovers.
“In many ways, I’m very proud of the team because of the things we have worked on,” Troy Coach Chanda Rigby said. “This team has responded and gotten better at it. They really have gotten better, but we fell back in the first half with our toughness; we really did.
“They outmuscled us on a lot of rebounds. They were being more physical than us. That’s something I did not expect, but again, we’ll go back to the drawing board and work on that, but as far as our players being hard and improving, they are doing that.”
Ja’Mia Hollings led Troy with 13 points, four rebounds and five steals, while Nia Daniel tallied 12 points and four rebounds. Both Makayia Hallmon and Tai’Sheka Porchia scored 11 points each. Porchia also grabbed nine rebounds and blocked a shot.
Charles Henderson graduate Tuti Jones made her return to Troy in the win for Belmont and didn’t disappoint her hometown crowd as she tallied 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists and one steal. Tessa Miller and Kilyn McGruff scored 18 points each for the Bruins.
Troy is back on the road this Saturday, Dec. 2, at Memphis in the first game of a stretch of five road games in the next six contests. Troy will travel to SEC Country on Dec. 6 to face Georgia before hosting UT-Martin on Dec. 9 and then playing three straight road games against Iowa State on Dec. 17 and both Stephen F. Austin and New Mexico State at the Austin Peay Tournament Dec. 20-21.