Marshall Women’s Basketball Recap
By Ben Anderson, FM88 Sports’ Director
Jan. 29, 2026
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. (WMUL-FM) — What started as a dominate outing for Marshall Women’s Basketball against the Troy Trojans on Wednesday night ended in an 85-82 heartbreaker for the Herd.
The Thundering Herd dominated the Trojans in the first half, taking a 20-point lead entering the locker room. Timaya Lewis-Eutsey was at the center of the Herd’s attack against the fast-paced Trojans, tallying 19 points in the first half.
The Trojans entered the contest as the best rebounding team in all of NCAA Division I, and that was the dynamite that lifted the Trojans to outscoring the Herd 53-30 after the intermission, outrebounding Marshall 51-31, including 23 offensive rebounds. Marshall head women’s basketball coach Juli Fulks said that she was pleased with the team’s effort but there are things that she needs to fix on the coaching end.
“In the first half, we expended a ton of energy keeping them off the boards, and then we didn’t have the legs,” Fulks said. “But kudos to them, they do what they do. They rebound really well. I thought our players played really hard. I wish I’d have done a better job. I didn’t like my performance today as a coach, and so I wish I’d have done some things differently.”
The Trojans continued to push its fast-paced offense against the Thundering Herd, forcing back-to-back turnovers that led to a second-chance jumper from Rachel Leggett and a 3-pointer by Emani Jenkins, and a layup by Ashley Baez. Another Baez layup capped off the 9-0 run for the Trojans in the first three minutes of the third quarter.
The Trojans took its first lead of the contest at the 1:57 mark in the fourth quarter from a jumper by Fortuna Ngnawo to give Troy an 80-78 lead.
Both teams went back and forth trading lead changes until Baez hit the game-winning trifecta with under a minute to go to put Troy up 84-81.
The Thundering Herd had two chances to tie it in the final minute, but Lewis-Eutsey would miss one of two free throws, and Meredith Maier missed the game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer. Fulks said that the Trojans used its high-speed energy to its advantage and that the Herd took way too long to comeback.
“There was a big energy shift,” Fulks said. “That was one of the areas I should have done better I should have changed the press break sooner. I have a lot of faith in them, and teams have made plenty of runs on us. We’ve always responded, and we did (respond). It just took a little longer than I thought, so I wish I could go back and change things sooner.”
Lewis-Eutsey led the way for the Thundering Herd with tying her career-high in scoring with 33 points. Ngnawo charged the comeback for the Trojans with her 11th double-double of the season with 21 points and 12 assists.
With the victory Troy improved to 17-4 (8-2 SBC) to remain 4-0 all-time against the Thundering Herd and earn head coach Chanda Rigby her 500th career victory. The Thundering Herd fallsl to 17-6 (8-3 SBC) and fourth in the Sun Belt Conference Standings.