The Troy women’s basketball team began 2026 with a strong performance, defeating Louisiana 80-54 at the Cajundome on Thursday afternoon. This win puts Troy at 11-2 overall and 2-0 in Sun Belt Conference play, marking the first time since the 2019-20 season that they have started league play with two wins. Over the past five seasons, Troy has now beaten Louisiana four times at the Cajundome.
Zay Dyer led Troy with 16 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks. Emani Jenkins contributed four three-pointers for a total of 14 points, while Rachel Leggett added 10 points. Off the bench, Detavia Salter set a career-high with four blocks and matched her personal best of 11 points in just 19 minutes. The Trojans controlled the boards, outrebounding Louisiana by a margin of 60-37; all but one player who saw action for Troy recorded at least one rebound.
Louisiana struggled offensively despite making 14 out of 15 free throws. The Ragin’ Cajuns shot only 28.8 percent from the field and managed just one three-pointer out of nine attempts. Amijah Price led Louisiana with 15 points, while Mikayla Manley and Bianca Silva also reached double figures.
Troy started quickly with a seven-point run and maintained control throughout the game. The team went into halftime leading by 18 points and extended their advantage to as much as 32 during the third quarter.
After the game, head coach Chanda Rigby said: “Here we are in the Cajundome in Louisiana, I’m very grateful to be walking away with a win. These road conference wins are hard to come by, but we got the job done. The most important thing was coming off 10 days off. But our veterans did a great job delivering the message that we can’t let anything slide. And the effort showed. It wasn’t the cleanest game, but there’s plenty to improve upon. The Cajundome is a tricky place to play in. We’ve won some good ones here, but we’ve also lost some big ones here. And the biggest reasons why we didn’t fall into that was our leadership.”
Troy will next travel to Hattiesburg to face Southern Miss on Saturday, January 3.
Several players achieved notable milestones during this game:
– Zay Dyer scored in double figures for the 22nd time in her last 26 games.
– Shakirah Edwards recorded her tenth block of the season.
– Rachel Leggett made her first three-pointer as a Trojan.
– Emani Jenkins hit four three-pointers for her eighth game this season with at least three threes.
– Detavia Salter tied her career high in scoring and set a new personal best for blocks.
– Fortuna Ngnawo collected ten rebounds for her sixth double-digit rebounding effort this season.
Troy’s dominance on rebounds resulted in significant second-chance scoring opportunities.
