SUN BELT CONFERENCE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

Troy bounces ASU out of New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS -- Troy set a Sun Belt Conference women's tournament record for rebounds Thursday night as it defeated Arkansas State University 105-72 in the quarterfinals at Lakefront Arena.

The third-seeded Trojans (20-10) outrebounded the 11th-seeded Red Wolves (7-25), 86-39, including 45-8 on the offensive end. The 86 rebounds broke the tournament record of 65 set by Louisiana Tech against Texas-Pan American in 1994.

All-Sun Belt forward Caitlyn Ramirez had 25 points and a Sun Belt tournament-record 22 rebounds in 22 minutes to lead Troy, which will face No. 2 Texas-Arlington (22-7) in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

It was the most lopsided of the Trojans' three victories against the Red Wolves this season. Troy won 83-75 on Jan. 21 in Jonesboro and 90-77 in Troy on March 2.

Claresa Banks had 19 points, Jayla Chills had 11 and Harriet Winchester had 10. Eleven Trojans scored and 14 grabbed at least one rebound.

Troy shot 30.8 percent from the field on 33 of 107 attempts and was 32 of 37 (86.5 percent) from the free-throw line.

Payton Tennison came off the bench to lead ASU with 16 points, Tahlon Hopkins scored 14 before fouling out and Jada Ford had 10.

The Trojans led 50-41 at halftime. Ramirez didn't start the second half, entering 1:07 into the third quarter. Moments later Troy went on a 15-0 run to regain command and take a 66-45 advantage.

Ramirez scored her first second-half points on a jumper with 4:14 left in the third quarter as the Trojans led 78-57 after three quarters.

Ramirez scored her first six points of the game as Troy used a 10-0 run midway through the first quarter to take a 17-6 lead.

ASU settled down and Lauren Bradshaw made consecutive field goals as the Red Wolves got within 23-15 to close the quarter.

Ramirez grabbed her 10th rebound with 6:30 remaining in the second quarter. She was fouled on the play and made both free throws to give her 15 points. That completed an 11-0 run that gave the Trojans a 39-18 lead.

Dominique Oliver's three-pointer seemed gave the Red Wolves some life, starting a 14-0 run to trim the deficit to within 44-41.

Troy concluded the first-half scoring by making six consecutive free throws and grabbed its nine-point halftime lead lead as Ramirez finished the first two quarters with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

Sports on 03/10/2017

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