Conway, S.C. – Coastal Carolina had four players hit for double figures, but its late rally fell just short as Troy earned a hard-fought 86-80 win in a Sun Belt conference women's basketball game Saturday afternoon at the HTC Center.
Troy led from start to finish and held its largest advantage at 72-60 with five minutes remaining but had to hold off a late comeback attempt by the Chanticleers, who trimmed that 12-point margin to just 78-75 with a minute remaining. The Trojans led by four at 80-76, before they made 6-of-10 free throws in the last 30 seconds to stave off a Chants' rally.
Makaila Cange led Coastal with 17 points, including 16 of those in the second half. The guard duo of
Arin Freeman and
Deaja Richardson had 16 points apiece and
Dalanna Carter came off the bench to score 12 points for the Chanticleers, who slipped to 7-9 overall and 1-2 in the league. Freeman and Richardson only hit on a combined 10-of-27 from the field, but the two fueled the late comeback. Richardson, in particular, had seven points in the last 3:30. And Freeman dished out a team-high seven assists for the game.
Alancia Ramsey and
Arielle-Vadrelle Belinga also were important contributors off the bench. Ramsey had six points and seven rebounds, while Belinga had three inside buckets in her 10 minutes of action.
Troy's Makayia Hallmon (22 points), a 5'3" senior guard and pre-season all-league first-team pick, was one of four to reach double figures for the Trojans, which improved to 5-8 overall and 2-1 in the Sun Belt.
Troy started the fast-paced affair by jumping out to a 13-5 lead, and midway through the second quarter the Trojans used a 9-0 run to take an 11-point lead, at 31-20. Freeman then hit a three-pointer that capped an 11-2 response by the Chanticleers to close the gap to 33-31. Troy led 38-32 at the half, with Daniel and Hallmon each having 10 points. Coastal had three players with six points apiece, but the Chants hit 12-of-38 shots (32 percent) and made only two buckets from behind the arc.
They improved the rest of the way, finishing 28-of-68 (41 percent). The overall statistics were nearly even for the two teams, but Coastal had the rebounding edge, at 50-46, with Cange collecting a team-high nine rebounds to fall just short of her third double-double for the season. She also helped her team's shooting percentage, hitting on 5-of-8 shots, including a three-pointer in the last minute that brought CCU to within 82-79 with 30 seconds to go.
Coastal will conclude its four-game home stand next week with contests against Old Dominion and Marshall. The Chanticleers will face ODU at 6 p.m. ET, on Wednesday and then welcome Marshall at 1 p.m. ET next Saturday.
For complete coverage of CCU women's basketball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalWBB (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.
