Video: No. 10 Hail State Hoops Tops Tulane in Coast Showdown

BILOXI, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – A strong start carried the No. 9 Mississippi State women’s basketball team to a 66-49 win over Tulane Wednesday night in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum.

Playing before a crowd of 1,724, the Bulldogs (3-0) played on the Mississippi Gulf Coast for the first time under fifth-year coach Vic Schaefer. The Maroon and White were treated to another strong showing in anticipation of Sunday’s mammoth Top 10 showdown with Texas.

“I really proud of how we played in the first half, it was one of our better halves,” Schaefer said. “In the second half, we didn’t have the same intensity. A lot of credit for that goes to Tulane. They were a little shell-shocked in the first half, but they settled down and played much better in the second half.”

Victoria Vivians led the way for the Bulldogs with 17 points, while Breanna Richardson was also in double figures with 11 points. Dominique Dillingham led the team in assists (five), rebounds (eight) and steals (six).

As a team, the Bulldogs had 15 steals, forced 27 turnovers and scored 27 points off those turnovers. The Bulldogs have forced 65 turnovers in three games.

“Defensive pressure is something that we do,” Vivians said. “We take a lot of pride in that. When we force 27 turnovers, that means we are getting more chances to score. When we struggled on the offensive end, it was good that we were playing great defense like that so we could keep the lead.”

Morgan William scored the game’s opening basket and the Bulldogs started strong on the offensive end for a third straight game. MSU broke a 2-2 tie with a 13-2 run. The run was fueled by a strong start from Vivians and a physical defensive effort.

The Bulldogs quickly built 10-point lead and led 18-10 after one quarter of play.

In the second quarter, the Bulldogs got the inside game going with strong contributions from Chinwe Okorie and Teaira McCowan.

After Tulane (1-1) closed within six at 18-12, the Maroon and White pieced together 10-2 run for a 28-14 lead after a 3-point basket by Roshunda Johnson.

Continued strong play on the defensive end led to a half-ending 8-0 run.

MSU held Tulane scoreless over the final 4:37 of the half and led 36-16 at halftime.

“The strong start was important to us,” Dillingham said. “When we start off strong offensively and defensively, its puts a lot of pressure on the other team.”

After shooting 39.4 percent in the opening half, the Bulldogs fell off slightly in the game’s final half but were never in any danger.

Tulane closed within 16 twice but a basket by Dillingham gave the Bulldogs their largest lead at 47-25 with 1:59 left in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Gulfport native and freshman Ameshya Williams played five minutes and collected four points and three rebounds before a large base on family and friends.

For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 22 of 61 shots from the field (36.1 percent), 4 of 17 shots from 3-point range (23.5 percent) and 18 of 29 shots from the foul line (62.1 percent). The Green Wave hit 19 of 40 shots from the field (47.5 percent), 2 of 10 shots from 3-point range (20.0 percent) and 9 of 11 shots from the foul line (81.8 percent).

MSU held a 39-26 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 10 assists and 17 turnovers, while the Green Wave had five assists and 27 turnovers.

Tulane received 20 points from Leslie Vorpahl and 10 points from Harlyn Wyatt.

“We really want to thank all of the Gulf Coast Bulldogs for coming out and supporting us tonight,” Schaefer said. “It was good to give our program this exposure. We had a lot of high school students in attendance and hopefully they got a glimpse of what we are doing with our program.”

MSU returns to the Humphrey Coliseum for the home opener Sunday against No. 8 Texas. The Bulldogs and Longhorns will tip off at 5 p.m. with the game being shown nationally on the SEC Network. Fans are encouraged to arrive early for “StarkVegas Night,” as a push is being made to draw more than 10,000 fans. Gates will open at 3:30 p.m.