Inside Troy Women's Basketball

Leanna Johnson has been amazing this season for the Trojans and has not only been dominate, but consistent as well. She is currently 22 and 5 on the season and has 175 strikeouts on the season. That win total also ranks in the top three in the nation by a single pitcher. This interview is a little older, but they haven’t been home in about two weeks until tonight when they take on Appalachian State. In the interview however, Leanna talks about her complete game win over the Alabama State Hornets and how she can rely on the defense behind her even when she gives up a hit. Leanna Johnson Interview Here:

            1. Watch the Ball: One of the most important things to do when trying to hit a pitch is to keep your eyes on the ball. If you keep your eyes on the ball, your natural reaction when swinging a bat will be to bring your hands and bat towards the ball. And with practice, you will start to hit the ball. And the key is not to just watch the ball, but to watch it all the way to your bat. If you take your eyes off of the ball for even just a split second, you have a good chance of winging and missing.             2. Be Patient: When trying to hit a pitch, you have to be patient. You can’t chase the ball outside and expect to hit it. You have to pick a pitch that you want to hit, and try to look for that pitch. And that leads into the next lesson.             3. Find Your Pitch: Every hitter has a certain pitch that they love to see thrown towards them and a certain area where they like...

As of late, the Softball team has been on a role and have won 12 games in a row.             Their most recent win was over conference rival South Alabama . And anyone who knows about that rivalry knows that it doesn’t matter what your record going into that game is. Both teams will play it close no matter what, and that’s exactly what happened.             Coming into that game, Troy was riding high on an eleven-game win streak, while South was struggling to try to get just their 3 rd win in conference and 13 th win overall.             Troy had started off slow, but picked it up in the third inning with 3 runs with Kaylee Hussey and Bailey Taylor both picking up RBIs. But, that is where the scoring would stop for the Trojans as they would go on to finish the game only scoring those 3 runs.    ...

This is a widely discussed topic in basketball circles on who is MVP every year, and most people have valid arguments on who is MVP. But for me, the MVP of the league is Giannis Antetokounmpo. This is because he has taken the Bucks as the lone super star on that team and has made them the best team in the NBA record wise. Just last season the Bucks were 44-38   on the season and finished in 7 th place in a week Eastern Conference that did not have Kawhi Leonard yet on the Raptors. Not to mention a injured Celtics and young 76ers team. Now, the 76ers through trades are a legit threat to the Warriors, the Raptors are a way better team with Kawhi than with Demar DeRozan with all do respect to him, and if the Celtics can figure out a good rotation for them they can be a threat as well. But, above all those teams is the Milwaukee Bucks lead by Giannis. Currently on the year Giannis is averaging a career high 27.4 points per game, a career high 12.5 rebounds per game, a c...

Basketball season is officially over, so now its time to move to softball. So far on the year the softball team is off to a hot start on the season as they sit 22-13 on the year so far and is currently on a four game winning streak. And a big part of that winning streak and the strong start to the season in general so far has been freshman Leanna Johnson . She is a pitcher from Brantley, Alabama and is currently 14-5 on the season. And out of the last four games played, Johnson has started three of them and has gotten the credit for the win in two of them. The second most recent win she earned was on the road at Coastal Carolina where the Trojans won 11-3. In that game she pitched all 6 innings for the Trojans and gave up 7 hits and 3 earned runs. In that same game she also had 8 strikeouts and only 1 walk. That game would spark the Trojans to go on and win the next two over Coastal Carolina and get the sweep just last weekend. But, then they would travel back home to st...

Thursday night the Trojans returned to Trojan Arena and returned to their old ways of being inconsistent and lost to Georgia State 85 to 70. They rebounded well and played defense well, but could not make a shot consistently. At one point the team was 7 for 27 from three and could barely make a shot from the field. Meanwhile, the Panthers of Georgia State where 7 for 13 from three. We took 14 more shots from three point than they did, and they had made the same amount! To me, that is crazy because just the prior game they had shot over 50% from three and then they shoot like that. Ultimately, the Trojans finished the game shooting 26% from three while hitting 33% from the field. And not only did the team struggled from the three-point line and the field in general, but they struggled from the free throw line as well. They shot 23 free throws for the entire game and only made 13. And again, Georgia State took less free throws than the Trojans and still hit more. They to...

In my last post I mentioned the Trojans needing to be efficient, especially after shooting 19 percent from three the previous game. I guess they listened because the game against Arkansas State on Saturday was a really good and efficient win to get the Trojans back on track as they took down the Red Wolves 100 to 89. The Trojans shot just over 50 percent from three for the game shooting 14 for 27 from three and right at 43 percent from the field. And this is the type of efficiency that the Trojans have been searching for most of this season. Countless times I’ve talked to the coaching staff after games and they have talked about putting together a full game and being consistent. And this was one of the few games where they have been able to do that. Not only were they consistent on the offensive end, but they were consistent on defense as well. They had a total of 14 steals for the game to go along with two blocks. They played team defense and communicated well on defe...

In my last post, I highlighted the biggest reason why I thought the Trojans lost last night. But, despite the loss, the Trojans can bounce back. In order to bounce back though, the Trojans need to play smarter. Yes, they play defense   and they rebound. But that is only two of the three main components of basketball. They need to be better offensively. What I mean by this is that they need to be more efficient. Currently they are one of the top scoring teams in the country because they run the floor and get offensive rebounds. Which is good, but they need to be more efficient. Often times I’ll see them play at home or hear them on the radio and they are taking shots early into the shot clock or are taking the first good look that they find. And that is just a product of the system that head coach Chanda Rigby runs. And that system has worked for a couple of years now. But this system has been at its best when efficient. And this can be seen earlier this seas...

Welcome back to Inside Troy Women’s Basketball. Troy just got done taking on Little Rock earlier tonight. And after being up by 4 points at halftime the Trojans fell on the road by 4, 76-72. And the cause of this loss? Shooting. Just like last week’s game against rival South Alabama, the Trojans shot under 40% from the field for the game. But unlike last weekend, the Trojans also shot below 30 percent from three. For the game the Trojans shot 19% from three, which is the tied for the second worst shooting percentage all season. The only worse shooting performance on the season was the very first game on the season where the Trojans shot just 15% from three. Another contribute to the Trojans loss was the play of two of the Trojans main players, Kayla Robinson and Amber Rivers. First with Kayla, she didn’t have a very good game as she shot just 3 for 13 from the field and 0 for 5 from three. She also had 4 assists to 3 turnovers for the game. Now with Amber, she s...

Welcome back to Inside Troy Women’s Basketball. The Trojans are coming off of a game where they beat the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns 90 to 64. That margin of win difference marked two games in a row where the Trojans won by 22 or more points. But the biggest standout from this game to me was Sky’Lynn Holmes. She finished the game with 15 points, which is a good amount for her. But where she shined was on the glass where she had 20 rebounds! I remember hearing her name called a lot at work at WTBF, but I did not think at the time it was that much. And this was a home game, so I really wish I could’ve been there to talk to Head Coach Chanda Rigby myself about that rebounding performance. And looking forward to the South game tomorrow, I don’t think it’s going to take a game like this from Holmes for the Trojans to win. Will Holmes put up 10 points and 10 rebounds? Probably. But what doesn’t happen every night is when the entire team has a good shooting night from three...

Introduction Hello, and welcome to my blog! This blog will be about the Troy University Women's Basketball team and their trials and tribulations this season, as well as their success. You should know that I am a very avid sports fan and love all sports. But loving all sports and just being a fan doesn’t make me a reliable source as to what is going on with the team and how they are doing. I am a student journalist at Troy University and have been watching this team for the last 2 and a half years, while covering them for the last year and a half. And because of how much I have had to be around the team, I know the play style of this team and what their mindset is. And that is to win, and win big! I know this because that is what head coach Chanda Rigby has been preaching to her players since she got here. Their goal every game is to score 15 points every 5 minutes. Does it always happen? No. But, that is their goal. Another thing that you should know about ...