No. 4 Mississippi State Continues School Record Start To a Season at Alabama

(Photo Courtesy: Kelly Price & Blake Williams, MSU Athletics)

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – A 16-2 run to start the second half helped carry the No. 4 Mississippi State women’s basketball team to a 67-54 victory over Alabama in Southeastern Conference action Thursday night at Coleman Coliseum.

MSU continued the best start in school history by notching its 20th victory. The Bulldogs are 20-0 overall and 6-0 in conference play, while the Crimson Tide fell to 14-5 and 2-4.

It was MSU’s fourth-straight win in the series. The Bulldogs also set a new school record with their ninth road win of the season.

“My hat is off to Alabama, they played very hard,” MSU head coach Vic Schaefer said. “It’s always a knock-down, drag out. Even the score may not indicate that, I thought they really took it to us in the first half. I am really proud of how we responded in the second half.

“The things we aren’t doing correctly are my fault.”

Chinwe Okorie paced the Bulldogs with 15 points, while Victoria Vivians added 14 points and Teaira McCowan added 10 points. Okorie head a team-high eight rebounds. Morgan William had five assists and three steals. Blair Schaefer also had three steals.

The Bulldogs broke an early 4-4 tie with 10-straight points. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Schaefer and William ran the lead to 14-4. The Crimson Tide score the game’s next five points and trailed 18-13 after one quarter.

Both teams went better than two minutes without scoring in the second quarter. The Bulldogs would eventually get some things going and led by eight points five times in the quarter, including a 32-24 lead at halftime.

Defense was the key to the big run to start the second half. Alabama went more than five minutes with only one second-half field goal. William, Vivians and Okorie each had four points during the run. A jumper by Dominique Dillingham created a 22-point lead at 48-26 with 5:08 left third quarter.

MSU carried a 58-33 lead into the final quarter.

Alabama would score the first seven points of the final quarter and would later score the final five points of the game.

For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 27 of 62 shots from the field (43.5 percent), 2 of 10 shots from 3-point range (20.0 percent) and 11 of 17 shots from the foul line (64.7 percent). The Crimson Tide hit 20 of 48 shots from the field (41.7 percent), 3 of 11 shots from 3-point range (27.3 percent) and 11 of 25 shots from the foul line (44.0 percent).

The teams were even at 35 in rebounds. The Bulldogs had nine assists and 18 turnovers, while the Crimson Tide had seven assists and 29 turnovers.

Alabama received 16 points from Hannah Cook and 10 points each from Coco Knight and Jordan Lewis.

“Unless you go through this, it’s very taxing,” Schaefer said. “I think sometimes the kids feel the number (no losses) a little bit. It’s hard to go through the season and not have a blemish. Sometimes, you worry about not giving your best. You have to turn it loose and play.”

MSU remains on the road for Monday’s huge nationally-televised showdown at No. 5 South Carolina. The Bulldogs and Gamecocks meet at 6 p.m. CT from Colonia Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. The game will be shown on ESPN2.