Alexis Rack had a double-double and five other Lady Bulldogs reached double digits as Mississippi State blew away the Savannah State Lady Tigers Thursday 97-33.
“I felt like we did what we needed to do,” MSU head coach Sharon Fanning said. “What I was really proud of is that we stayed focused and we had balance.
We also rebounded real well in the second half. I was just pleased that so many got to play and score. It was a good team effort tonight,” Fanning said.
Senior forward Robin Porter led the Lady Bulldogs with 16 points and junior guard Tysheka Grimes scored 15 and led the team with eight rebounds off the bench.
“We just went out today and tried to improve,” Grimes said. “The coaches stay on us and kept us motivated for this game and we always try to keep each other going. We always encourage each other and try to have fun.”
Junior guard Armelie Lumanu scored 14 points for the Lady Bulldogs, while sophomore guard Mary Kathryn Govero added 12 points and junior forward Chanel Mokango scored 10.
All in all, 12 players saw the floor, all of them scoring at least two points and bringing down a rebound.
“We always love to see everyone get in the game and get to have fun. In a game like this you want everyone to touch the ball,” Rack said. “I just tried to get everyone involved as much as I could.”
The Lady Tigers never came close to challenging the Lady Bulldogs, falling behind 23-2 halfway through the first half. Freshman forward Raven Fields led the Lady Tigers with 15 points.
“Well, coming in to the game, I knew it was going to be tough, with it being Mississippi State and us on the road,” Savannah State head coach Cedric Baker said. “The score was kind of lopsided, but I got to give credit where credit is due, and that was to Mississippi State. They made shots and we didn’t.”
On Sunday, the Lady Bulldogs were unable to overcome an early deficit despite a late surge and lost to the Georgia Lady Bulldogs 69-57.
“Georgia is a good ball team. You can tell from the beginning of the season that they have grown as a team,” Fanning said. “We have to play tough and we are not playing tough enough. We talked too about how we need to get the ball in the sweet spot, the paint, and that we need to make things happen. If I just had to summarize what we need to work on in one word, it would be ‘tough.’ We need to be tougher.”
Georgia led 37-20 at the half and still led by 17 at the 14:37 mark until State went on a 12-0 run, thanks to clutch three-pointers from Rack. Porter’s jump shot with 9:25 left pulled MSU within two, but Georgia went on an 8-0 run and never Mississippi State get close.
Rack hit six threes in the game to lead MSU with 18 points. Porter scored 12 points, and Lumanu added 11 points.
Georgia was led by sophomore forward Porsha Phillips, who had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Junior forward Angel Robinson and junior guard Christy Marshall added 13 points each.
Both teams put on an excellent show of free throws, as State hit eight of nine and Georgia hit 21 of 22.
“I knew we were doing something special from the line. We did an exceptionally good job when we only missed one free throw,” Georgia head coach Andy Landers said. “Just an exceptional win against a very good basketball team.”
The Lady Bulldogs will now try to rebound from the loss Thursday against the Vanderbilt Lady Commodores. Senior guard Christina Wirth leads the Commodores with 14.3 points per game.
The game will begin Thursday at 7 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum.