Bulldog Seniors Claim 100th Win With 70-53 Victory Against Mizzou

Sunday, February 5

Starkville

1:30 PM

Mississippi State

23-1 (9-1SEC)

Missouri

16-8 (6-4SEC)

Missouri

Mississippi State

Bulldog Seniors Claim 100th Win With 70-53 Victory Against Mizzou

February 05, 2017 | Women's Basketball

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STARKVILLE, Miss. – No. 5/4 Mississippi State celebrated Super Sunday with a 70-53 Southeastern Conference women's basketball win over Missouri Sunday afternoon at Humphrey Coliseum.

MSU won its third-straight contest to improve to 23-1 overall and 9-1 in league play. A Top 30-RPI opponent, Missouri fell to 16-8 and 6-4. The senior class notched its 100th career victory with Sunday's win.

Dominique Dillingham scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Bulldogs. Ironically, Dillingham's previous career-high of 21 points came in 2014 against Missouri. Victoria Vivians battled through foul trouble to score 15 points, while Breanna Richardson had 13 points.

Richardson topped 1,000 career points with her performance.

"Really proud of my team," MSU head coach Vic Schaefer said. "(Thursday's opponent) Auburn can wear you down, so I was concerned going into this game. Missouri has an excellent team, so we knew we would have to bring a lot of energy. I like how we started the game. I like our toughness."

The teams played an offensive-oriented first quarter. The lead changed hands several times before the Bulldogs took the lead for good at 12-11 on a basket by Vivians. The Bulldogs stretched the lead to five at 18-13 on a basket by Chinwe Okorie. Missouri battled back and trailed 18-17 after one quarter.

The Bulldogs stretched the lead by holding the Tigers to 10 points in the second quarter. A 9-0 run was capped by a layup from Vivians and pushed the lead to 30-19 with 4:13 left in the half. The Bulldogs held a similar lead at halftime, holding a 36-27 at advantage.

"It's great to be represented by two seniors like (Dillingham and Richardson)," Schaefer said. "The seniors have won 100 games, and we are not done yet. These players came here and believed in our vision. We had nothing to show them but what we wanted to do."

Missouri was held without a field goal for almost seven minutes in the third quarter. The Bulldogs used an 11-0 run for a 47-27 lead on a basket by Richardson with 5:00 left in the quarter. MSU held a 52-36 lead entering the fourth quarter.

For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 26 of 59 shots from the field (44.1 percent), 6 of 15 shots from 3-point range (40.0 percent) and 12 of 19 shots from the foul line (63.2 percent). The Tigers hit a season-low 15 of 45 shots from the field (33.3 percent), 4 of 19 shots from 3-point range (21.1 percent) and 19 of 20 shots from the foul line (95.0 percent).

The Bulldogs also held the Tigers to their lowest-scoring effort in conference play and forced more turnovers than any prior opponent.

Missouri held a 43-25 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 14 assists and eight turnovers, while the Tigers had 11 assists and 29 turnovers. The Bulldogs had 35 points off turnovers, while allowing only two.

Missouri received 19 points from Sophie Cunningham.

MSU resumes league play with a Thursday home game against Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs and Commodores tip at 8 p.m. from the Humphrey Coliseum on the SEC Network.