Vivians Earns SEC Freshman Of The Week; MSU Ranked 11th By AP
February 23, 2015 | Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Another sensational road performance earned Victoria Vivians SEC Freshman of the Week laurels for the second-straight week and helped Mississippi State vault three places to No. 11 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 Poll.
Vivians earned the honor, her fourth of the season, after scoring a team-high 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds in the Bulldogs' 57-55 road win at Alabama Sunday.
The win improved MSU to 25-4 overall, a school record for wins in a season. It also gave the Bulldogs a 10-4 SEC mark, tying the 2002-03 squad for the most league victories.
Following Sunday's win, Mississippi State rose three places in the AP poll to its highest ranking since 2002-03.
The Carthage, Miss., native scored 11 of her points in the decisive second half Sunday, going 5 of 8 from the field and hauling in six of her rebounds.
Vivians put back her own miss for what would prove to be the deciding bucket with 1:26 left in the game.
Vivians paces Mississippi State with 14.9 ppg this season, fifth-most in the SEC and tops among league freshmen.
She also rates eighth in field goal percentage (37.6 percent) and free-throw percentage (73.8 percent), and third from 3-point range at 33.5 percent.
MSU is the third-highest ranked team in the SEC this week. South Carolina, Thursday's opponent at 6 p.m. CT on Fox Sports Net South, stayed at No. 2 while Tennessee remained at No. 6.
Texas A&M jumped to No. 12 and Kentucky slipped two places to 13th.
Prior to Thursday's Top 15 showdown, Mississippi State will host its final Hail State Hoops Luncheon of the season Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. in Mize Pavilion.
Cost for the luncheon is $12, and fans can RSVP by calling (662) 325-0198 or emailing dbrown@athletics.msstate.edu.
Associated Press Top 25 Poll – Feb. 23, 2015
Rank Team Record Pts. Pvs.
1 Connecticut 26-1 850 1
2 South Carolina 25-1 807 2
3 Baylor 26-1 786 3
4 Notre Dame 25-2 750 4
5 Maryland 24-2 699 5
6 Tennessee 23-3 692 6
7 Oregon State 25-2 635 7
8 Louisville 23-3 618 8
9 Florida State 25-3 574 9
10 Arizona State 24-4 515 12
11 Mississippi State 25-4 483 14
12 Texas A&M 22-6 464 15
13 Kentucky 19-7 414 11
14 Princeton 25-0 401 16
15 North Carolina 22-6 400 17
16 Duke 19-7 361 10
17 Iowa 21-6 263 13
18 Chattanooga 24-3 246 20
19 Stanford 20-8 217 18
20 Rutgers 20-7 164 19
21 Florida Gulf Coast 25-2 143 22
22 George Washington 24-3 101 24
23 Syracuse 20-8 86 25
24 California 21-7 78 24
25 Northwestern 21-6 72 NR
Dropped out: No. 21 Nebraska, No. 23 James Madison.
Others receiving votes: Seton Hall 44, Minnesota 33, South Florida 30, Nebraska 28, James Madison 18, DePaul 16, Green Bay 16, Oklahoma State 9, Texas 9, Dayton 7, Oklahoma 6, Ohio State 4, Western Kentucky 4, Quinnipiac 2, Wichita State 2, Gonzaga 1, North Carolina State 1, Washington 1.
