State Earns Two More Top 10 Rankings; Vivians Sporting News All-American

MSU is ranked No. 7 by Sporting News and No. 8 by Slam Magazine in the preseason. Victoria Vivians was named a Sporting News First Team All-American.

State Earns Two More Top 10 Rankings; Vivians Sporting News All-American

September 28, 2016 | Women's Basketball

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STARKVILLE, Miss. – Two more preseason basketball publications have placed the Mississippi State women in their Top 10 rankings.

Sporting News tabbed the Bulldogs No. 7 and named junior guard Victoria Vivians a preseason first-team all-American. Slam Magazine selected Mississippi State No. 8 in its preseason publication released this week.

The newest rankings come after Mississippi State landed at No. 7 in Athlon Sports and No. 12 in Lindy's Sports preseason preview. Athlon also tabbed Vivians a second-team preseason all-American.

Mississippi State earned the second-highest ranking among SEC teams. Vic Schaefer's fifth Bulldog squad returns all five starters and nine letterwinners from last year's edition that won a program-best 28 games, tied for second in the SEC and earned the school's second trip to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Vivians earned her latest preseason all-America honor following a sophomore campaign that saw her average an SEC second-most 17.1 ppg en route to claiming WBCA All-America Honorable Mention accolades and first team All-SEC honors.

Vivians also ranked in the SEC's Top 20 in both rebounding (5.8 rpg) and steals (1.7 spg).

The Bulldogs also return Morgan William, who ranked second in scoring (9.7 ppg) and tops in assists with a league second-most 4.9 apg. The Birmingham, Ala., native also ranked second in the SEC at the free-throw line, draining a program-best 84.4 percent.

Dominique Dillingham enters her senior season looking to build on a junior season that saw her average 7.9 ppg, while Chinwe Okorie scored 6.8 ppg and paced the team with 6.0 rebounds per contest.

Ketara Chapel, a 35-game starter last season, also returns along with a pair of key reserves in Breanna Richardson (5.6 ppg) and SEC All-Freshman Team selection Teaira McCowan (6.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg).

All four publications are currently available on newsstands.

The Bulldogs open the season at Humphrey Coliseum on Nov. 3, facing former MSU assistant Elena Lovato and Arkansas-Fort Smith in a 6 p.m. exhibition.

MSU officially begins the 2015-16 ledger at the Maine Tipoff Tournament Nov. 11-16. State's home opener comes Nov. 20 when Texas, another preseason Top 10 squad, comes to Starkville.

Season tickets for the 2016-17 are currently on sale and can be purchased online at www.hailstate.com/tickets or via phone at 1-888-GO-DAWGS. Reserved season tickets (sections 114-118 and sections 105-107) cost $100 each, while general admission tickets for the campaign are $40 each.