The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs basketball team opened the season with a 94-52 win over the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Lady Lions Tuesday at Humphrey Coliseum.
“It was a great team win and I hope we can take this and improve on it next ball game as well,” MSU head coach Sharon Fanning said.
Junior Armelie Lumanu led the scoring with 20 points, and added six rebounds and five assists. Junior Alexis Rack added 17 points and five assists, and sophomore Mary Kathryn Govero had 13 points and three assists.
“Any day you go out and have a good game offensively, it gives you confidence going into the next game,” Govero said.
Senior Donnisha Tate had seven points for the Lady Bulldogs, and junior Chanel Mokango had 11 points. Each of them brought down seven rebounds.
Off the bench, junior Tysheka Grimes scored 12 points and had seven rebounds. Grimes is still recovering from surgery on both knees in the offseason.
“As of now, my knees bother me, but I don’t let them set me back. I still push through it. I don’t let them affect me critically at all,” Grimes said. “I’m getting there. I’m almost at 100 percent.”
Senior Robin Porter and junior Rima Kalonda added quality minutes off the bench and four points each.
“Having five players in double figures is very important because that means people are playing well off the bench. Our depth is going to be important for us as I have said before and that’s important that we continue to keep that up,” Fanning said.
Despite the score, Fanning said she thought the team could have played even better defensively. The Lady Bulldogs only outrebounded the Lady Lions 46-42.
“There is no excuse to giving up 23 offensive boards. I thought that we were outworked in the first half. I’m not concerned about points or scores. I am concerned about effort, execution and improvement,” Fanning said. “We have to show an intensity level where we refuse to be outworked while we’re on the floor, and that’s somewhere we’re trying to get, but we’re not there yet.”
Rack said she sees much potential for the team.
“Everyone can do most everything,” Rack said. “Right now, not everyone has settled into a role because we have so many people that can do a lot of different things, but it’s looking bright right now to say we’re just in our first game and to already have this and not really have come together yet is looking real good right now. We’ve still got a lot more to work on.”
Arkansas-Pine Bluff head coach Danny Evans said he was impressed by what he saw from the Lady Bulldogs.
“They are a big, physical team that has a lot of depth coming off the bench,” Evans said. “They will give teams trouble and create match up problems with their size. They definitely have more talent this year and have a lot of help coming off their bench.”
Senior Arica Green led the Lady Lions in scoring with 14 points and senior Ciara Shields added 10 points. Senior Ava Walters had nine rebounds while junior Tashayla Jackson added nine points.
The Lady Bulldogs kicked off their 35th season with their fourth consecutive win in a season opener. They are now 10-4 in season openers under Fanning.
The Lady Bulldogs face the Northwestern State Lady Demons of the Southland Conference Saturday at 2 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum.
The Lady Demons are 1-1, defeating Southern University 66-53 Tuesday night. Junior Lyndzee Greene leads the Lady Demons in scoring with 10.5 points per game after two games. The Lady Bulldogs are 1-0 all-time against the Lady Demons.