STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs had four players reach double figures in their 81-49 winning effort over the visiting Memphis Lady Tigers, as the Bulldogs extended their season-opening streak to 7-0.
It was a back-and-forth battle through the first four minutes of the game, until a three-pointer by Mary Kathryn Govero, who had 14 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists, sparked a 17-2 Lady Bulldog run over the next seven minutes, eventually pushing Mississippi State’s halftime lead to a 42-19 MSU advantage.
The Lady Bulldogs were able to capitalize on 31 Memphis turnovers, scoring 29 points off the Lady Tiger’s miscues, while continuing to show a dominant post presence, outscoring the Tigers 32-20 in the paint. MSU finished the game shooting 44.4 percent from the field, while holding Memphis to 36.7 percent from the field.
“We wanted to come out and play with some intensity,” said junior guard Alexis Rack. “In the first half we worked hard on defense and were able to force some turnovers. We wanted to make a statement and this was the first game we played intense the whole first half.”
Rack had a team-high 19 points to go along with five assists and three steals, and managed to knock down four three-pointers in the process. Junior forward Chanel Mokango was two-for-three from beyond the arc to add toward her 12-point total along with three blocked shots. Rounding out the Lady Bulldogs in double figures, junior guard Armelie Lumanu finished with 10 points, six rebounds and game-highs in assists and steals with six and four, respectively.
“I think our first half was as good intensity wise as I have seen from a Mississippi State team,” said Mississippi State Head Coach Sharon Fanning. “Hopefully we can continue to improve, but it was great to see the balance and depth tonight, and we will continue to get better at that.”
Memphis was paced by senior guard Paris Leonard, who had a game-high 20 points, converting eight of her 13 field goal attempts. Lady Tigers freshman guard Ramses Lonlack had the game’s lone double-double, finishing with 12 points, including six-of-six from the charity stripe, and 11 rebounds and played throughout the entire contest.
Mississippi State is 7-0 for the first time since the 1999-00 season, where the Lady Bulldogs started 11-0 under Coach Fanning. Mississippi State will look to advance their record this Tuesday, Dec. 16, when they visit the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
Texas 73, Tennessee 59
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Brittainey Raven scored 21 points and Texas (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) continued its best start in 20 years with a 73-59 win over Tennessee (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today, No. 7 AP) on Sunday.
Kat Nash added 12 points for the Longhorns, who are 9-0 for the first time since the 1987-88 season.
Raven and Nash made two key 3-pointers in a 10-1 run midway through the second half that broke open a tough game and sent the Longhorns to a win over the highest-ranked opponent in coach Gail Goestenkors' two seasons.
Freshman Glory Johnson scored 13 to lead Tennessee (7-2) despite missing most of the first half with foul trouble.
Tennessee is the defending national champion and pounded Texas 92-67 in Knoxville last season. The Lady Vols lost five key players from that squad, including national player of the year Candace Parker. The loss keeps Tennessee coach Pat Summitt 10 wins away from career victory No. 1,000.
Johnson, the Lady Vols' leading scorer this season, picked up two fouls in the first two minutes and went to the bench for the next 13. She was back in the game only 44 seconds before she picked up her third and went right back to her seat.
Texas started fast, hitting four of its first five shots, then went cold, going 5-of-26 for the rest of the half. The Lady Vols, even with Johnson spending most of the half on the bench and Angie Bjorkland picking up three fouls in the half, rallied from eight points down to make it 31-31 at halftime.
Johnson gave Tennessee a quick lead the first time she touched the ball in the second and had eight of the Lady Vols' first 10 points of the half before. The game was tied 41-41 when Texas cobbled together the big run that changed the game.
Raven started it with a baseline layup off a nifty no-look pass from Carla Cortijo before Raven and Kat Nash hit consecutive 3-pointers to put Texas up 51-42.
Another 3-pointer by Nash made it 57-46. Tennessee got back within six before Johnson and Vicki Baugh missed four straight free throws that could have pulled the Lady Vols back into the game. Tennessee went 11 of 24 from the line for the game.
After the misses, Texas steadily built it's lead to put the game away. Raven made a pair of free throws, Cortijo drove for a layup to push the lead back to 11.
Cortijo finished with 11 points and five assists and Ashley Lindsey had 11 points, eight rebounds and six blocks.
No. 12 Louisville 75, Kentucky 59
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Angel McCoughtry scored 31 points to lead No. 12 Louisville to a 75-59 victory over Kentucky on Sunday.
Three other players scored in double figures for the Lady Cardinals (9-1) with Candyce Bingham getting 14, Monique Reid 12 and Deseree' Byrd 10.
Lydia Watkins led Kentucky (5-5) with 15 points, going 6-for-6 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line.
The tone was set early as the Lady Cardinals increased their lead to as many as 17 points over the Wildcats in the first half. Louisville led 33-21 at halftime.
The second half featured more of the same, with Louisville's lead never dropping below 10 points and extending to as many as 21 with 3:49 left in the game.
The crowd of 16,337 set the Louisville women's basketball, state of Kentucky and Big East Conference paid attendance record for a women's basketball game.
The Lady Cardinals shot 41.4 percent from the field (29-for-70). The Wildcats shot 44.7 percent from the field (21-for-47).
Comeback Bid Falls Short As Rebels Fall 46-42 At NC State
RALEIGH, N.C. – Ole Miss used a 12-2 run midway through the second half to take its first lead of the game since the opening minutes of the first half, but NC State outscored the Rebels 14-9 over the final 4:23 en route to a 46-42 victory Sunday afternoon from Reynolds Coliseum.
Rebel sophomore Alliesha Easley gave Ole Miss a 33-32 lead at the 5:09 mark of the second half as she hit a baseline jumper with the shot clock nearing zero. NC State, however, answered on the other end on the ensuing possession as Shayla Fields hit a deep three-pointer to catapult the Wolfpack ahead by two points.
After Shawn Goff hit one of two free throws to cut the Wolfpack lead back to one point, Fields once again responded by scoring the next four NC State points to extend the lead to five points with just over three minutes left to play.
Consecutive baskets from Shantell Black and Nikki Byrd pulled Ole Miss to within a point at 39-38 with just over two minutes to play, but NC State forward Tia Bell made a contested mid-range jumper on the other end to put the Wolfpack ahead by three points.
From that point on, Ole Miss shot 0-for-5 from the field over final 1:40 and was forced to put NC State on the free throw line to stop the clock. The Wolfpack shot just 4-for-8 from the charity stripe during that time frame, but it was just enough to hold the Rebel offense at bay.
Goff finished with her second double-double of the season as she registered 15 points and 11 rebounds to go along with three steals and one blocked shot. Black added 11 points as was the only other Rebel in double figures, while Byrd pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds.
Fields paced the way for the Wolfpack by scoring a game-high 17 points.
After trailing by 11 points at halftime, the Rebels fought their way back into the contest in the second half by limiting NC State to just five field goals and 20.8 percent shooting from the field. The Wolfpack opened the second half with a jumper from Brittany Strachan at the 19:09 mark, but didn’t score another field goal until the 6:19 mark.
During that time, Ole Miss trimmed a 13-point margin into just a three-point deficit and held NC State scoreless for 8:37.
Ole Miss returns to action Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. when the Rebels welcome UALR to Tad Smith Coliseum.
Women's Basketball Slips at MTSU 77-67
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The women's basketball team dropped a hard-fought game to Middle Tennessee State Sunday 77-67 at the Murphy Center. With the loss, the Crimson Tide drops to 6-3 on the season, while the Blue Raiders improve to 6-4 overall.
Sophomore Tierney Jenkins was Alabama's top point producer with 15 points, while classmate Daleisha Carn followed closely behind with 13.
Middle Tennessee led early on before Alabama took the 10-9 edge at 14:04 when junior Dedrea Magee hit a layup and the extra point. The Blue Raiders went back on top minutes later and held the lead throughout the first going into halftime up three with the score set at 31-28. Middle Tennessee continued to lead throughout the entire second frame pulling ahead by as many as 14. The Tide cut it to six points late in the half, but ran out of clock to work with.
Next up, Alabama will host Florida A&M on Wednesday, Dec. 17 at Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. (CST).