By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Four Mountaineers got into double figures scoring but it was not enough to overcome a tough-minded Troy women’s basketball team on Jan. 9. The Trojans led by as many as 17 points late in the fourth quarter and stopped App State’s 3-game winning streak with a dominating, 85-68 win.
The Mountaineers had few answers for Trojan starting forward Zay Dyer, a 6-2 junior from Atlanta. Dyer recorded a double-double with game-highs in scoring 22 points and pulling down 16 rebounds.
Troy’s senior starting guard Ashley Baez, a Dominican Republic native and transfer from Florida Gulf Coast, was also a strong contributor with 20 points and a game-high four steals.
Troy won the opening tipoff and quickly built a 5-point lead just three minutes into the first period. The slow-starting Mountaineers battled back to tie the game at 10-10, went ahead 14-12 with 1:23 left in the opening quarter, and the two teams battled to a 16-16 tie at quarter’s end.
An 8-0 run by Troy to open the second period gave the visitors from Alabama a measure of momentum and they never gave it back. They led 42-31 at halftime, 67-54 at the end of the third quarter, and finished off the Mountaineers in the fourth quarter, outpointing App State, 18-14 in the final stanza to get to the eventual outcome.
App State created a lot of opportunities with 28 defensive rebounds and limiting the Trojans to just seven offensive rebounds, but could not capitalize. They were victims of their own making in many respects, all too frequently missing layups and lackluster ball-handing coming up court. Those missed layups proved costly as Troy finished the game with 39 defensive rebounds vs. 16 offensive rebounds by App State.
Troy dominated in the paint, scoring 42 points vs. the Mountaineers’ 26 and the Trojans also were more effective in transition outpointing their hosts, 16-4 on fastbreaks. Troy’s reserves also were more productive, contributing 23 points vs. just 11 points produced by the Mountaineer bench.
The brightest spot on the court for App State was starting guard Zada Porter, who poured in a team-high 18 points, including hitting on 4-of-8 shots from behind the 3-point arc. Others in double figures for the Mountaineers were Elena Pericic (10 points), Eleyana Tafisi (11 points) and Emily Hege (10 points).
Even down by as many as 17 points late, the estimated “Education Day” crowd of more than 400 that braved the snowy elements to be in attendance witnessed a team that fought hard to the bitter end, even if the outcome was not in their favor. The hustle and work ethic were ever present — the shots just didn’t go in.
The Mountaineer women will try to get back on track Jan. 11 in the back end of a hoops doubleheader. The App State men tipoff against James Madison at the Holmes Center at 1 p.m., followed by the App State women hosting Coastal Carolina.
