#HailStateHoops Ranked No. 8 By Lindy's Sports
September 14, 2015 | Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Another preseason ranking has the Mississippi State women's basketball team among the nation's best as the Bulldogs were rated No. 8 in Lindy's Sports 2015-16 College Basketball Preview issue that hits newsstands Tuesday.
The Top-10 showing from Lindy's follows a No. 6 rating from Athlon Sports last week.
The Bulldogs earned the ranking after setting school records for overall (27) and SEC (11) wins last season to claim the program's first NCAA Tournament nod since 2010.
SEC Coach of the Year Vic Schaefer's squad wrapped the campaign No. 12 in the final Associated Press poll, the best finish by a Bulldog squad.
Mississippi State returns 10 players from that historic edition and has three of its top four scorers back, including AP All-America Honorable Mention selection Victoria Vivians, who led the team with 14.9 ppg as a freshman.
Schaefer's squad also returns sophomore point guard Morgan William, who earned SEC All-Freshman Team honors after averaging 9.1 points and 3.6 assists, along with junior Breanna Richardson, who tallied 8.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest.
The Bulldogs added five talented newcomers to the mix with the addition of Parade All-American Teaira McCowan, NJCAA All-American Jazmine Spears, Mississippi all-state selection Jazzmun Holmes, Big 12 All-Freshman Team member Roshunda Johnson, an Oklahoma State transfer, and Washington, D.C., standout Zion Campbell.
Mississippi State's 2015-16 slate includes seven teams in Lindy's ranking. SEC foes South Carolina and Tennessee come in at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, while Texas, the Bulldogs' opponent in Austin on Dec. 2 follows State at No. 9.
Texas A&M stands at No. 16, while Kentucky comes in at No. 18. Florida Gulf Coast, State's Dec. 19 opponent in Puerto Rico, earned a No. 20 rating.
The Bulldogs also face No. 22 South Florida Dec. 30 in the SEC/AAC Challenge in Jacksonville, Fla.
Season tickets for the campaign, which kicks off Nov. 13 at home against Samford, are on sale now. Reserved season tickets (sections 114-118) cost $95 each, while general admission tickets are priced at $35.
Fans can order tickets for the Bulldogs' 16-game home slate online at www.hailstate.com/tickets or via phone at 1-888-GO-DAWGS.
Hail State Hoops expects to be a hot ticket once again following a 2014-15 campaign that saw a school-record 67,598 fans attend games at Humphrey Coliseum.
In the regular-season finale, a 55-47 win against Ole Miss, the Bulldogs had 7,326 in the Hump, the largest crowd ever to watch a women's college basketball game in the state of Mississippi.
