Lady Bulldogs Set To Open Play Sunday In NCAA Tournament
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Mississippi State women's basketball team will open play in its sixth-ever NCAA Tournament when they take the floor of the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. on Sunday for a first-round matchup with Middle Tennessee. The Lady Bulldogs, a 7-seed, will take on the 10th-seeded Blue Raiders at 1:30 p.m. CT. on ESPN.
The winner of the MSU-MTSU game will play the winner of 2-seed Ohio State and 15-seed St. Francis (PA) on Tuesday in the second round.
Mississippi State enters Sunday's game with a 19-12 overall record, finishing third in the Southeastern Conference with a 9-7 record in league games this season. The Lady Bulldogs are coming off a semifinal appearance in the SEC Tournament in Duluth, Ga. State continues to be led in scoring by Alexis Rack who ranks fourth in the Southeastern Conference in scoring, averaging 17.1 points a game. State also puts four other players in double-figure scoring. Senior Armelie Lumanu is averaging 12.3 points a game while Tysheka Grimes is scoring 11.7 a contest. Mary Kathryn Govero is averaging 11.1 a game and Chanel Mokango has a 10.8 average. Senior first-team All-SEC selection Rack leads State in assists, averaging 4.6 a game. Lumanu leads the Lady Bulldogs in rebounding, pulling down 7.2 a game. Lumanu also led MSU and was second in the conference in steals, averaging 2.6 a game.
The regular season and tournament champions of the Sun Belt Conference, Middle Tennessee State is 25-5 overall this season and were 17-1 in conference play this season. The Blue Raiders are led by senior forward Alysha Clark who leads the nation in scoring, averaging 28.7 points a game. Senior Jackie Pickell (13.9) along with senior forward Brandi Brown (13.2) are also averaging double-digits for the Blue Raiders. Head coach Rick Insell is 125-38 in his fifth season at MTSU.
The Lady Bulldogs and MTSU have met six previous times dating back to 1976 with MTSU holding a 4-2 advantage. The last meeting between the teams came in 1990.
State is 4-5 all-time in NCAA Tournament games and have reached the second round in each of its last four appearances. Last season, the Lady Bulldogs reached the second round of the tournament in Columbus, Ohio before falling to Ohio State.