Lady Bulldogs Keep Rolling With 72-61 Win At Southern Miss

Tuesday, December 16

Hattiesburg, Miss.

7:00 PM

Mississippi State

8-0

Southern Miss

5-5

Team	1	2	F
Mississippi State	21	51	72
Southern Miss	24	37	61

Lady Bulldogs Drop 69-59 Decision To #23 Kentucky

Lady Bulldogs Keep Rolling With 72-61 Win At Southern Miss

December 16, 2008 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: hailstate.com

? Official Statistics
? Official Statistics (PDF)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Mississippi State came roaring out of the second half gates to dispatch of in-state rival Southern Mississippi 72-61 Tuesday night in women's basketball action at the Reed Green Coliseum on the USM campus.

The Lady Bulldogs opened the second half on a 26-4 run. That outburst covered the first eight minutes of the second half and allowed MSU to overcome a 24-21 halftime deficit.

The victory improved MSU to 8-0 on the campaign. It is the second-best start in school history. The Lady Bulldogs opened the 1999-2000 season with 11 straight victories. Meanwhile, Conference USA member Southern Miss fell to 5-5 with its third home defeat of the season.

Tuesday's night outcome also provided sweet revenge for the last showdown between the two schools. A year ago, Southern Miss ended the MSU season with a 62-61 victory in a second-round game of the Women's National Invitational Tournament, also played on this floor.

“We talk about pace and establishing being aggressive,” MSU head coach Sharon Fanning said. “We did not do that in the first half. You have to start the game with that type of intensity on the road. We challenged our players in the second half. We came out and did a much better job of establishing what we wanted to do in the second half.”

The Lady Bulldogs shot 10 percentage points better in the second half (45 compared to 35). MSU only made two turnovers in the first 18 minutes of the second half. In the end, the Lady Bulldogs scored 51 second-half points - the fourth time this year MSU scored 50-plus points in the final half of play.

Thanks to the 26-4 run, the Lady Bulldogs opened a 47-28 advantage with 12:01 remaining in the game. The Lady Bulldogs turned up the defensive pressure, forcing seven turnovers during that run. The run was kick-started by back-to-back 3 point-baskets from Armelie Lumanu and Alexis Rack.

The Lady Eagles slowly recovered, cutting the deficit to 51-43 with 7:46 remaining. MSU then responded with a 15-5 run to remove all doubt from the contest.

“We had more patience in the second half,” Fanning said. “We did a much better job of getting to the line (19 attempts in second half, compared to five in first half) and we did a much better job of rebounding. They kicked our tails on the board in the first half. In all of the areas of toughness, we played much better in the second half.”

Turnovers and poor shooting plagued both teams in the opening half. Southern Miss rammed home back-to-back, 3-point baskets in the final 42 seconds of the half to take a 24-21 lead at the intermission.

Rack led the Lady Bulldogs with 18 points and six assists. The MSU junior guard was 3 of 10 from 3-point range and a perfect 7 of 7 at the free throw line. Chanel Mokango added 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Lumanu was also in double figures with 12 points.

Southern Miss received 16 points from Kendra Reed and 13 points from Pauline Love. Amber Eugene led the Lady Eagles with seven rebounds.

For the contest, the Lady Bulldogs converted 26 of 63 shots from the field (41.3 percent), 7 of 22 shots from 3-point range (31.8 percent) and 13 of 24 shots from the foul line (54.2). The Lady Eagles converted 21 of 47 shots from the field (44.7 percent), 7 of 12 shots from 3-point range (58.3 percent) and 12 of 19 shots from the foul line (63.2 percent).

MSU held 40-35 advantage in the rebounding category. The Lady Bulldogs dished out 17 assists but made 16 turnovers. MSU had 10 turnovers at halftime and only had two in the second half until the final 1:44 of play. Southern Miss had 13 assists but made 26 turnovers.

The Lady Bulldogs resume their five-game road trip with a pair of games this weekend in the state of Utah. MSU plays at Utah Valley in a 4 p.m. CT start Friday and at Utah in a 7:30 p.m. CT start Saturday. Both of those games will be broadcast locally on WFCA-FM (107.9) and will be available online at mstateathletics.com through Maroon to the Max.