By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

Troup had no answer for LaGrange’s Aryan Dozier.

Dozier, LaGrange’s phenomenal senior guard, exploded for 33 points on Friday to lead her team to a 61-46 road win over rival Troup.

Dozier was unstoppable.

She got it done from the outside with a pair of 3-pointers, and she also got to the basket at will and was 8-of-12 from the free-throw line.

“She’s a special player,” LaGrange head coach Stephen Tuck said. “She’s one of those truly once-in-a-lifetime players that you’re going to have. The ability to say Fruit go get me a bucket. We need a bucket right here. It’s amazing to be able to coach a player like that.”

Chnaireia Strozier, a fellow senior who has started alongside Dozier in the LaGrange backcourt for four seasons, was 7-of-10 from the free-throw line on the way to a 13-point night.

Jedda Madden led Troup with 14 points, and Amber Gilbert scored 12 points.

“We had foul trouble early, and that kind of changed the game plan,” Thornton said. “And we had turnovers, and missed free throws. That’s kind of been our Achilles’ heel. But I was proud of our girls’ effort.”

Troup had the upper-hand early.

The Lady Tigers led 13-9 after the first quarter, and they scored the first four points of the second period to take a seven-point lead.

LaGrange went on a 7-0 run to tie it before Madden scored to give Troup an 18-16 lead with 3:20 left in the half.

It was tied at 20-20 when LaGrange went on an 8-0 run to take an eight-point lead at the break.

Strozier hit a floater at the halftime buzzer to give the Lady Grangers a 28-20 lead at the break.

Troup got as close as six in the third quarter, and LaGrange took a 45-37 lead into the final period.

Troup was trailing by nine when Dozier hit a 3-pointer with 3:05 to play, and LaGrange had a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

LaGrange improved to 9-0 in Region 5-AAAA, and it can sew up the number one seed for the region tournament with a win at Sandy Creek today.

“They’re starting to understand how good they can really be,” Tuck said. “They can overcome being on somebody else’s court in a hostile environment. They can overcome being down at one point at a time.

The Lady Tigers fell to 4-4 in the region, and they’re in fourth place with four regular-season games to go.