Troy women’s basketball head coach Chanda Rigby saw two key parts of the game as the difference between advancing to the NCAA Tournament and waiting for the Trojan’s potential postseason fate.
The No. 2 seed Trojans fell behind No. 4 seed James Madison 13-0 to start the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship, then cut the lead to 34-30 at halftime before starting the second half with three straight turnovers.
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The Dukes (26-8) turned those giveaways into a 5-0 run and never let Troy (25-7) back into the game on its way to a 69-52 win and second conference tournament championship in the last four years on March 9 at the Pensacola Bay Center.
“I think this game was lost in the first few minutes of the first quarter and the first few minutes of the third quarter,” Rigby said. “We came out at the beginning of the third quarter with three straight turnovers when we were probably the most amped up and willing to play the best.”
“We were only down by four after being down by 14 in the first half. We had some momentum, going we just needed to carry it out. Unfortunately we turned the ball over three times and they scored off of them.”
JMU’s Peyton McDaniel poured in a double-double of 28 points and 10 rebounds and was named Tournament MVP. She averaged 25 points per game in the Dukes’ three wins. Ashanti Barnes added a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds.
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James Madison will enter the NCAA Tournament on a 12-game winning streak and won all three SBC tournament games by at least 19 points.
The Dukes will be making their 14th NCAA Tournament and this one is especially sweet for the program after they lost to Marshall in overtime in the tournament final in 2024 and the Arkansas State in overtime in the tournament semifinals in 2025.
JMU will now await their tournament seeding, which will be announced March 15 at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.
“For us to be in that locker room with two overtime losses, I’m so happy for them they get to celebrate like this,” Dukes head coach Sean O’Regan said. “Because that’s what it’s all about.”
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Troy’s Fortuna Ngnawo finished with a team-high 18 points and 12 rebounds. Emani Jenkins added eight points and Navarre 2022 graduate Rachel Leggett contributed eight points and four rebounds. Zay Dyer totaled six points and 11 rebounds and Saniya Jackson added six points and five assists.
James Madison shot 40.3% from the field, compared to just 30.3% for Troy. The Dukes hit 6-of-22 3-point attempts compared to 1-for-12 for the Trojans. Troy committed 16 turnovers and JMU scored 24 points off those giveaways.
Troy got as close as 27-26 in the second quarter but never led.
Despite the seeds, the Dukes entered the title game as the top-ranked team in the Sun Belt according to the NCAA’s NET Rankings at No. 46, while Troy was second at No. 73.
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The two teams didn’t meet in the regular season, though Rigby, who was the women’s basketball head coach at Pensacola State College from 2005-12, knew JMU would be a handful, especially without a practice to prepare.
“It was almost like they didn’t exist throughout conference because we didn’t play them,” Rigby said. “So to our team it was like they didn’t exist, but the coaches we were like ‘wow, if we were to meet them in that time of the tournament where you don’t get even a practice really in between, that’s going to be the toughest scout.”
This is Troy’s first appearance in the SBC championship game since 2021, when it beat Louisiana-Lafayette in the title game then pushed No. 2 seed Texas A&M to the brink in a first round NCAA Tournament loss.
The Trojans are hoping for another postseason appearance after advancing to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament Final Four in 2024 and Championship in 2025.
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“Coach Rigby comes in and she’s like ‘we’re the champion of broken hearts.’” Dyer said. “Like we’re gonna turn it into something and turn it into momentum and every year we’ve done it. So if we have that opportunity to play in the WNIT, we’re gonna take it.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Troy women’s basketball falls in Sun Belt tournament championship
