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A second half surge from Baldwin saw the Troup girls basketball team lose 62-46 in the round of 16 of the AAAA state playoffs

“I’m so proud of these girls,” Troup coach Carla Thornton said. “Coming out of that first scrimmage game that we had to forfeit and after how we started this season, I can’t ask for anymore from these girls.”

Troup had to forfeit its opening scrimmage because of a lack of healthy players at the time but have come a long way in the months since. 

The Tigers offense struggled to get going all night, and it started in the first quarter as they could only muster nine points which put them in an 11 point hole at the end of the first quarter. 

Troup was also in foul trouble early which ended up costing them with Alexcia Murphy fouling out of the game late. 

“We got in foul trouble early and that was hard to overcome,” Thornton said. “When Lexi (Murphy) gets into foul trouble, it’s hard for us to work around that.”

Murphy — a senior — finished with 12 points in her last game as a Tiger. She was a dutiful servant to the program, doing whatever was asked of her. She will depart Troup having scored over 1,000 points and out together one of the best careers a girl basketball player has ever had at Troup.

“It has been absolutely amazing to be able to coach her,” Thornton said, “I’m amazed just watching her, and I can’t wait to see what she does next. She is going to be missed, but I’m excited about her future.”

After stumbling through the first quarter, the Tigers were able to gather some momentum heading into the break by limiting Baldwin to just six points in the second quarter, which allowed Troup to cut the deficit to eight points. 

Troup’s offense began to get going in the third quarter but so did Baldwin’s, which saw the Tigers deficit swell up to 13 heading into the fourth and final quarter of the Tigers’ season.

Troup could find no way back in the fourth quarter as Baldwin continued its hot offense in the fourth.

Troup had a hard time stopping the trio of Madison Ruff, Janaye Walker and Kassidy Neal who combined to score all but six points for Baldwin. 

“They are a great team, take nothing away from them,” Thornton said. “Hopefully, we learn from this.” 

For Troup, it was Angie Dowdell who led the way with 15 points. Sheniyah Philpot finished with nine points and Raygen Godfrey had five. 

The Tigers had a bunch of young players play big roles this year, and this experience should help them in the years to come.

“I hope they remember how bad this hurts,” Thornton said. “I hope it pushed them to get in the gym and get to work.”

Troup ends its season with a 14-16 record. The Tigers made their fourth straight trip to at least the round of 16.

“We are going to have to work hard to get back next season,” Thornton said. “We won’t be able to rely on Lexi anymore, so girls are going to have to step up.”