Ladyjacks Come Up Short Against Trojans

Wednesday, December 20

3:30 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

6-5,2-0WAC

Troy University

2-7,0-0Sun Belt

SFA

Troy

Ladyjacks Come Up Short Against Trojans

12/20/2023 8:40:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Peter Trainor, Student Assistant for Strategic Communications

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team (6-5, 2-0) fell 98-78 in a non-conference game to Troy University (2-7, 0-0) in the first game of two SFA will play in the Austin Peay Christmas Classic.

Troy came out of the gate firing as they scored the first seven points and quickly jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first 90 seconds of the game. However, Trinity Moore would put an end to the Trojans scoring run as she would hit a jumper off a pass from Tyler McCliment-Call for SFA's first points of the game and SFA only trailed 7-2. Troy would continue their scorching hot start to the game as they would explode for a 15-4 run over the next four minutes of the quarter and found themselves up 22-6 with just under four minutes left in the first. However, SFA refused to go down without a fight as they would instantly respond with a 10-0 scoring run of their own as Destini Lombard, Trinity Moore, Tyler McCliment-Call, and Avery VanSickle all hit layups to cut the Troy lead down to 22-16. The final two minutes of the quarter was all Troy, however, as they would finish the quarter on another scoring run, this time 13-3, and they held a 35-19 lead after one.

The Ladyjacks flipped the script of the game on Troy the second quarter as they began the second quarter with some furious scoring as Trinity Moore caught fire for SFA and rattled off eight straight points for herself to cut the Troy lead to 37-27 just three minutes into the second. After a Zay Dyer layup pushed the Trojans back up by 12, Tyler McCliment-Call showed her defensive abilities as she swiped a steal and fed Avery VanSickle for a layup which helped spark an 11-2 run by SFA. After the VanSickle layup, Zoe Nelson and Destini Lombard hit back-to-back shots for the Ladyjacks before Lydia Cooke-Wiggins made her presence felt immediately as she rattled off five straight points for SFA, capping the 11-2 run with a three-pointer and bringing SFA to within two of Troy at 40-38. The two schools would trade baskets the final three minutes and SFA would briefly tie the game at 43 on a Destini Lombard jumper, however, Troy would have the last say in scoring for the first half as they went on a 5-0 run to maintain a 48-43 lead as the two teams went into the locker rooms.

The second half saw Troy continue their strong shooting they had the entire game as it seemed they could not miss a shot in the third quarter. Troy would go on a pair of 12-2 scoring runs to fuel a 34-point third quarter and found themselves in control after three with an 82-59 lead. The fourth quarter saw SFA enjoy some success from downtown as they would hit three three-pointers in the quarter from Avery VanSickle, Zoe Nelson, and Atalia Ballesteros, while Kurstyn Harden would score six points in the final quarter, however they were not able to overcome the Troy lead and ultimately fell 98-78 on the road.

Four Ladyjacks finished in double-digits led by Trinity Moore who scored her second highest point total of the season as she led all 'Jacks with 20 points on over 70% shooting from the field. Zoe Nelson finished second on the team in scoring as she finished with 12 points as she hit a pair of triples to lead all Ladyjacks in that category. Tyler McCliment-Call stuffed the stat sheet once again for SFA as she finished with 10 points, six rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Destini Lombard was all over the court for the Ladyjacks tonight as she finished with eight points, six rebounds, led the team with 10 assists, and also led the team with five steals in a strong all-around performance. Kurstyn Harden with her fourth quarter effort was able to secure her 11th straight game to start the season in double-digit points as she finished with 11 points and shot over 83% from the charity stripe.

SFA made six three-pointers against Troy as they led Troy in three-pointers (6-2), assists (20-14), blocks (3-1), and defensive rebounds (31-30). The Ladyjacks defense posted their fourth game in their last five games with double-digit steals as they swiped 11 steals today. Those 11 steals led to 16 points off turnovers, while SFA had another strong game in the paint as Kurstyn Harden helped lead the Ladyjacks to 48 points in the paint, which also marked the fourth time in the last five games the Ladyjacks have scored 40+ points in the paint.

Stephen F. Austin will look to put this loss behind them and snap a three-game skid when they square off against host Austin Peay tomorrow Thursday, December 21st at 2:30 p.m. CST at F&M Bank Arena on ESPN+.