Mississippi State Improves to 22-2 Overall with Revenge Win over Vanderbilt

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – Playing before a season-best crowd of 5,056, No. 18 Mississippi State rode the momentum of a fast start to a 69-44 win against Vanderbilt Thursday night in a Southeastern Conference women’s basketball game at the Humphrey Coliseum.

The crowd was the sixth largest in Humphrey Coliseum history and the largest MSU has played before – home or road – this season. The Bulldogs have now played in front of a new school-record 50,438 this season at home.

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

MSU won its fourth straight conference game to improve 22-2 overall and 7-2 in conference play. State matched last season’s win total and claimed its most conference wins since 2009-10.

Vanderbilt fell to 12-9 and 3-5. The victory matched MSU’s largest margin of victory in the series.

“Awfully proud of our kids tonight,” MSU head coach Vic Schaefer said. “The second half was awfully good offensively. We were good on defense all night. We played with a lot of purpose and knowing where we needed to be. Our entire team was dialed in on that end. It makes all the difference in the world when kids make shots.

“We had kids step up and make shots tonight. We talk about playing with passion and playing with a purpose. We talk about entertaining. That crowd was loud tonight.”

Victoria Vivians, the SEC’s top freshman scorer, led MSU with 20 points – including 16 in the second half. It was her seventh game with 20 or more points this season and second in SEC play. Martha Alwal added 14 points, six rebounds and two blocks.

Alwal became the third player in SEC history to record 1,000 career points, 900 career rebounds and 300 career blocked shots.

Kendra Grant came off the bench to hit her first two 3-point shot attempts on the way to a 12-point night. Morgan William had five assists while Breanna Richardson joined Alwal with a team-high six rebounds.

“Coach tells me to come off the bench and fix what is broken, and if it is not broken to keep things going,” Grant said. “My job is to bring some energy to the team so that is what I tried to do.”

MSU quickly built a 12-7 lead six minutes into the contest after Grant’s second 3-pointer. Vanderbilt closed within three twice, including 16-13. The Bulldogs responded with the game’s next four points from Alwal.

State ended the half with a 6-2 run to build a 30-19 lead at halftime.

In the second half, Vanderbilt closed within six points at 31-25 with 16:46 left in the contest.

A 3-pointer by Vivians capped a 6-0 run to stretch the lead to 37-25. Another trey by Vivians ran the lead to 44-29 with 10:34 left in the contest.

The Bulldogs stretched the lead late with an 11-0 run – highlighted by five points from LaKaris Salter.

“We have a definite home-court advantage now,” Schaefer said. “The crowd was great. They were into the game. The building was loud. It got even louder when we put the subs in. It means a lot to these players to have that kind of recognition.

For the contest, MSU hit 26 of 52 shots from the field (50.0 percent), 8 of 15 shots from 3-point range (53.3 percent) and 9 of 15 shots from the foul line (60.0 percent). Vanderbilt hit 17 of 49 shots from the field for 34.7 percent, its second-lowest tally this season. The Commodores were 1 of 10 from 3-point range (10.0 percent) and 9 of 10 from the foul line (90.0 percent).

Vanderbilt held a 33-29 rebounding advantage. MSU had 16 assists and 14 turnovers, while Vanderbilt had seven assists and 22 turnovers.

Vanderbilt received a team-high eight points from Rebekah Dahlman.

MSU returns to the road for a Sunday contest against No. 6 Tennessee. The Bulldogs and Lady Vols tip at 2 p.m. CT with a national telecast available on the SEC Network.