Troy Women’s Team tops Old Dominion

With the game tied at 76 at the 8:31 mark of the final quarter, Troy held on to outscore Old Dominion 7-4 in the final 89 seconds for its first-ever victory, 83-80, over the opposition Wednesday night in Trojan Arena.

The victory marks the first-ever for the Trojans (15-9, 9-3 SBC) over the Monarchs (14-10, 6-6 SBC) as they hand ODU its third straight loss. With the win, head coach Chanda Rigby has now clinched a victory over all current Sun Belt foes and improves to 7-0 overall in Trojan Arena for the second time in Rigby’s tenure (2021-22) while having its first-ever 5-0 start in SBC play.

Former Old Dominion transfer Brianna Jackson had a memorable 22-rebound, 19-point performance to lead the Trojans – her 22 rebounds tied Felmas Koranga (March 8, 2021) and Caitlyn Ramirez (March 9, 2017) for the second-most rebounds in D-I Troy single-game history. Zay Dyer matched her in the scoring column (19) for her 17th double-digit scoring performance while being one rebound shy of her 12th double-double (9) – Dyer also had a team-high two blocks. Briana Peguero, who hit arguably the biggest shot of the night with an and-one with 0:22 on the clock, ended with 15 points, two steals, three assists and three rebounds.

Simaru Fields shined in Trojan Arena for the Monarchs with 26 points on six triples, and En’Dya Buford was behind her with 19 points and eight rebounds. Brenda Fontana managed 18 points before fouling out in 28 minutes. As a unit, Old Dominion couldn’t capitalize on a Troy team that averaged 18.8 turnovers in league play as it forced just 10. The Monarchs bench also didn’t play a factor, managing just three points to Troy’s bench that scored 25.

Old Dominion trickled the margin down to five at the start of the fourth quarter, 59-54, before Fields drilled a triple to open the fourth at the 0:26 mark, 59-57. Dyer and Jackson combined efforts to balloon it back to six, 65-59, before a pair of triples from ODU retied the game at 65 (6:49 remaining).

The next 5:20 saw both sides deliver blows as the game was tied on three more occasions, including at the 8:31 mark when Camryn Hill hit her second free throw, 76-76. A miss by Troy with 1:13 remaining saw Dyer corral the offensive board and finish the second-chance bucket for a 78-76 advantage.

Buford missed the next shot for ODU, allowing Jackson to draw the foul and go 1-of-2 from the charity stripe, 79-76, at the 9:06 mark – Buford responded with one made at the line, 79-77. Troy called the timeout to draw up a key play, draining the clock to 0:22. With the shot clock ticking down, Peguero went to work and chucked up the moving jumper with a defender in her face. The senior guard drilled the circus shot and converted the and-one to make it a two-possession game, 82-77.

The Monarchs didn’t waste any time as Fields hit her sixth triple 0:06 later to cut the margin to 82-80. Rigby trusted Peguero, who leads Troy program history in free throw percentage in a single season at 89.6, with the intentional foul play, and she delivered one with 0:10 left, 83-80. Old Dominion had one last chance and went to Fields. Fields drove inside despite being a 3-point game, and Dyer sent it as time expired to secure the program’s first win over ODU.

Despite the hot start in the first 1:45 off a triple by Leilani Guion, a jumper for Jackson and a layup by Peguero to hold a 7-2 advantage, Old Dominion would fire an early 16-0 run for an 18-7 lead.

The run opened when Simone Cunningham hit the jumper in the paint at the 2:52 mark to trim the deficit to three, 7-4. Old Dominion carried the momentum to the 5:37 mark when Fontana pushed the lead to 11, 18-7. Emani Jenkins briefly stopped the run with her first points of the night, 18-9, with 4:12 remaining, but Buford pushed the margin to 12, 21-9, on a triple.

Khila Morris single-handedly changed the momentum to the Trojans when she got the assist from Shaulana Wagner at the top of the arc and hit, 21-12, at the 6:22 mark. Hill managed one more jumper for ODU before Troy rattled off a 14-0 run that ended with a Morris layup for a 26-23 lead – ODU’s Buford hit a triple at the buzzer to tie the score at the end of the first.

In the first three minutes of the second, the lead changed three times as Fontana hit a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game, 35-34, with 6:15 left in the half. However, a tip-in layup by Jackson 37-34 opened and finished an 8-0 run to give Troy a 43-34 lead with 2:00 on the clock. Troy would balloon its advantage to double digits heading into the break, 46-36, on two free throws by Fortuna Ngnawo.

“It was probably one of my favorite wins that we’ve had at Trojan Arena in all my time here because tonight, our team showed the most growth. Old Dominion gave us their best shot, and they did a lot of smart things. They were giving their all, and our team just kept pushing back and saving control of the game. We faced a lot of adversity and emotions in this game. We kept our heads, and we kept cool. We kept making the next best play, which shows our team’s growth. Another way to show the growth of our team is we only had 10 turnovers. We’ve been struggling with way too many turnovers, and the team set a goal that they were looking to keep it under 12 and they got 10. Mo’s been on their team before, and a lot of emotion went into this game. I thought she was going to be emotional, but she wasn’t. She was all business and all heart. She’s been playing very solid for us, but she’s more than just a solid player. What she came here trying to do was to reach her potential. I appreciate our department for setting that up. All the coaches and the support were amazing. We have another big game on Saturday. We hope you go. Kent State is a solid program, and we need all of Trojan Nation.”

Game two of the 2024-25 MAC-SBC Challenge pits Troy against Kent State on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 1 p.m. in Trojan Arena.