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Troup dropped a tight affair with Trinity Christian 75-71 on Friday in the region 4-4A tournament third-place game.

It was a game that came down to the wire S the Lions were able to make a couple more winning plays down the stretch than their Tiger counterparts.

The two teams traded punches all night and it was the Lions who threw the opening blow, taking a 19-14 lead after the opening quarter. The second half was also tightly contested and Troup ended up trailing just 38-32 heading to halftime.

This was in stark contrast to the first two meetings between these teams this season as the Lions dominated both of those contests.

The third quarter proved to be the best of the night for Troup as the team cut the deficit to just four points heading to the fourth. 

Despite making multiple runs to stay close, including cutting the Lions’ lead to just two points with under a minute to play. Trinity Christian was fouled in the lane and then proceeded to hit two free throws to halt the attempted comeback by the Tigers.

Despite picking up an injury that knocked her out for a few minutes in the first half, Sheniyah Philpot had a game to remember. The sophomore diced up the Lions’ defense en route to 35 points. 

Her freshman running mate Ma’liyah Gilbert also had a big game on offense, tallying 20 points. Raygen Godfrey finished with eight points, but only five total Troup players got in the scoring column as the team did not get much help from the bench.

Gabbie Grooms was sensational for the Lions and Troup’s defense had no answers for her. She finished the game with 37 points, 15 of those coming in the fourth quarter to close out the game.

Troup is now 11-15 and heading to the playoffs as a fourth seed. The Tigers were on the outside looking in after the conclusion of the regular season but earned their playoff spot with their play in the region tournament.