Troy Women’s Basketball Coach Chanda Rigby Says Missed Call Cost 15 Historic Angry War Trojans

Troy coach Chanda Rigby said a missed call at the end of the month in which he lost 84-80, No. 2, Texas A&M, No. 2, cost the Trojans no.

Troy had his fourth appearance in the tournament and was looking for his first victory. A No. 15 seed had never won the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Texas A&M led 82-80 with 4.5 seconds left and entered the ball in front. Kayla Wells’s pass came from the fingertips of his teammate Destiny Pitts, who followed her, won possession and dribbled on the back field. No violations were made over and over again, as officials considered Pitts not in possession in court.

Instead, Pitts was fouled and hit both free throws with 2 seconds left to give Aggies the winning margin.

No Troy player touched the ball on the disputed entrance step. Rigby said he thought it was a violation, which would have given Troy possession.

“She looked like he had touched her and entered the yard. It seemed very obvious that this had happened,” Rigby said. “I saw if we could correct the call, but it didn’t happen. We had all the momentum at the time. If we had received that call, I don’t think there is any way we would have lost the game. be allowed to lose. “

Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said he did not see a replay, but the issue was ball control.

“I didn’t know if we had control over it,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then [the referee] I didn’t call him. But I can’t say for sure. If she was in control, it was an over-and-back. If he didn’t control it, it was a good call. “

Even if the call went Troy’s way, the Trojans would still have to get the ball in and try to score in the final seconds. But Rigby’s frustration came from two other last-minute calls that opposed the Trojans.

With 54 seconds left, Troy’s Tyasia Moore fired after contacting defender Jordan Nixon, who would have equalized the score at 79-79 and sent it to the line. Instead, Moore was called for a fifth foul. Then, with 30 seconds left, Troy’s Alexus Dye was called up for the fifth mistake while Nixon entered the lane.

In total, the Trojans were called up for 25 fouls on the 13 Aggies.

“No matter how big a team like Texas A&M, the No. 15 seed has had them on the ropes for a very long time,” said Rigby. “Their burial hurt us deeply in the post, it hurt us. We knew that if we put them on the free throw line in the fourth quarter, it would be hard to beat them. It looked like we were just called up for a foul, after a foul. “After the foul, our two most experienced players failed and that made it difficult. But we kept fighting.”

Blair said he thought second-half revenue affected Texas A&M, but continued. They will face No. 7 in Iowa State on Wednesday.

“They had an open 3 to move on and they didn’t make it,” he said of missing Troy from behind the arc with 19 seconds left. “That’s life sometimes. But officials, in general, I thought they did a pretty good job. It wasn’t that, it was just a hard ball game.”