Video: MSU Women’s Basketball Dominates Ole Miss For Largest Margin Of Victory In Series

[syndicaster id=’6176942′]

STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) – In front of a national television audience and a boisterous 7,128 fans in the Humphrey Coliseum Monday night, No. 6/10 Mississippi State returned home for a dominating 79-51 win against in-state rival Ole Miss at Humphrey Coliseum.

MSU won its fourth straight in the series and ninth straight against Ole Miss at home. The Bulldogs have taken 10 of the last 12 series meetings with the Rebels.

Playing in front of the second-largest crowd in school history, Mississippi State won its 16th-straight game at Humphrey Coliseum and claimed its largest margin of victory in the series.

MSU improved to 17-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play – good for sole possession of second place in the standings with 11 league games left. Ole Miss fell to 9-9 and 1-4.

After seeing an 11-game win streak snapped with a Thursday road loss at Missouri, MSU bounced back with a vengeance to improve to 11-0 at home this season.

“Really proud of my kids,” MSU head coach Vic Schaefer said. “I thought they played extremely hard. We came out and punched first. We kept punching in the first half. Ole Miss is quick and athletic. They can cause you some problems. They play hard. I am not sure how the score got to what it was.

“We knew going in we would have to match their intensity. We didn’t do that in our last game. I was anxious to see how we would respond. The second and fourth quarters were big quarters for us. I was really pleased with our defense. We challenged some shots and altered some shots.”

Morgan William led the Bulldogs with 16 points. Chinwe Okorie added her SEC personal high with 14 points, while Teaira McCowan added 10 points. Playing with heavy foul trouble most of the night, Victoria Vivians saw her streak of 17 straight games scoring in double figures snapped with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds.

MSU started strong on the defensive end and built a 13-4 lead less than six minutes into the contest. A 3-pointer by MSU’s Kayla Nevitt ran the lead to 16-7. Ole Miss followed with an 8-1 run to end the quarter bringing the deficit back to 17-15.

In the second quarter, the Bulldogs started strong with a 6-0 run early to build a 25-17 lead. The lead topped double digits when William converted four straight free throws, including two earned by an Ole Miss technical.

After Ole Miss closed within 29-20, MSU ended the half with a 10-3 run for a 39-23 lead at the break.

Ole Miss closed within 13 twice in the third quarter before MSU put together a 6-0 run for a 53-34 lead with 1:26 left in the third quarter. A trey by William capped that run.

The Bulldogs then turned up the defensive pressure to expand the lead. An 11-0 run covered a three-minute stretch and ran the advantage to 72-42 with 5:34 left in the contest.

“Seventy-one hundred is unique in women’s basketball,” Schaefer said of the attendance. “We got the students out and that is hard to do in women’s basketball. The atmosphere was electric. It is a credit to the girls. Fans come out to see a team that plays this hard. We need those people back Sunday. We need 10,000 against South Carolina.”

For the contest, MSU hit 28 of 57 shots from the field (49.1 percent), 5 of 14 shots from 3-point range (35.7 percent) and 18 of 24 shots from the foul line (75.0 percent). Ole Miss hit 19 of 56 shots from the field (33.9 percent), 4 of 14 shots from 3-point range (28.6 percent) and 9 of 19 shots from the foul line (47.4 percent).

MSU held a 46-29 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 18 assists and 15 turnovers, while the Rebels had seven assists and 16 turnovers.

Ole Miss received 14 points from Shandricka Sessom and 10 points from Madinah Muhammad.

MSU returns to the road for Thursday contest at Georgia. The SEC Battle of the Bulldogs will tip at 6 p.m. CT from Athens, Georgia. The game will be available nationally on SEC Network +.

MSU then returns home looking to make “History At The Hump” Sunday against No. 2 South Carolina. That contest will start at 4 p.m. and be show nationally on ESPN2 from the Humphrey Coliseum.