Seventh-seeded Louisiana rallied in the second half to stun No. 2 Troy 67-65 in the Sun Belt Conference women’s basketball tournament quarterfinals on Friday night in Pensacola, Fla.

The Trojans (19-11) jumped out to a 10-point lead after one quarter and were up 37-33 at halftime, but the Ragin’ Cajuns dominated the third quarter. Louisiana (16-13) outscored Troy 21-13 in the third period and built a seven-point lead early in the fourth, then held on for the upset win.

“This is not the way we wanted to represent Troy today; this is not the way we wanted this to go, of course,” Troy coach Chanda Rigby said. “I’m sad for our whole team, but mostly the four seniors. They did want this game really bad. We definitely had some breakdowns, but first I want to give credit to Louisiana.”

Troy briefly took the lead back on Ja’Mia Hollings’ 3-pointer with 6:21 left and were up 61-59 after Tai’sheka Porchia hit the second of two free throws at the 4:20 mark. Louisiana, however, got a pair of 3-pointers by Tamiah Robinson down the stretch to go up 67-63 with 2:05 to play.

Hollings’ jumper pulled Troy within two with 1:53 remaining, but that would be the final points of the game. The Trojans’ missed their final three shots, including Hollings’ rushed 2-point attempt at the buzzer after Troy inbounded the ball with less than four seconds remaining.

“Troy’s a great team and the way they play is hard to copy, and it’s hard to scout,” Louisiana coach Garry Brodhead said. “… I’m proud of the fact that they went on runs and they went on runs and we just played and do what we do — plain, old simple stuff that we work every day in practice. … This is the first time I’ve played a Troy team that we only had eight turnovers. That was huge for us.”

It was a second straight close loss for Troy in its Sun Belt tournament opener, albeit less controversial than a year ago. The Trojans fell 86-83 to Old Dominion in last year’s quarterfinals when the Monarchs had six players on the court for their game-winning shot, but officials did not catch it.

Hollings, a senior and a second-team All-Sun Belt pick this season, posted a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds in what might have been her final college game. Porchia, a first-team All-Sun Belt pick and also a senior, scored just five in 18 minutes while limited due to injury.

Troy went 15-3 in conference play during the regular season, including a sweep of Louisiana. The Trojans lost Friday despite going 8-for-14 from beyond the 3-point arc and winning the rebounding battle 44-30.

“There’s something to it that it’s hard to beat a team three times,” Rigby said. “We beat them by quite a bit (90-44) the first time we played them, and they closed the gap to only eight points (65-57) the second time. Like I told our team before the game — we have to play like underdogs in this game to beat somebody three times. And we didn’t play like underdogs.”

Robinson and Jaylyn James scored 15 each for Louisiana, which advances to the semifinals against No. 3 James Madison at 2 p.m. Sunday. Top-seeded Marshall meets No. 4 Old Dominion in the other semifinal at 11:30 a.m. , Sunday, with the two winners facing off for the championship at 1 p.m. Monday.

Troy has a chance to continue playing this season, with a potential berth in either the WNIT or the Women’s Basketball Invitational. Those bids will go out after the NCAA tournament field is filled on March 17.