On throwback to 70’s night, the Mississippi State University (2-0) women’s basketball team rolled in route to a 56 point win over Georgia State University (0-2).
The game was effectively over in the first half when MSU scored 63 points, and head coach Vic Schaefer was proud of how his team played.
“I was really proud of the way we came out in the first half, and shared the ball, thought our execution was really good, and I thought our transition was really good,” Schaefer said. “My notes at halftime was we had 30 points in the paint, Zion already had 11 and seven, we had three five second calls in the press, and I thought we were making the extra pass.”
Redshirt sophomore Zion Campbell, a guard from Washington D.C., had a double double. Campbell scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 25 minutes and credited her hard work, and good coaching in her success tonight.
“Hard work pays off, there has been a lot of hard work and practices, and coaches getting on to me everyday and it showed the improvement from my freshman year to today,” Campbell said. “I had more confidence in myself, and I think that is the key for me to have more nights like this.”
The point production decreased in the second half as they only scored 43 points, but it was the decrease in running their full court press.
“Getting our kids focused on that end and staying engaged is a challenge for 40 minutes, if you noticed when we take them out of the press their intensity leaves them,” Schaefer said. “I can’t tell you the last time I got out of the press two minutes into the third quarter. We had 70 points at that point, there wasn’t any point in pressing, now let’s go play half court defense and we absolutely stunk it up doing that.”
Going forward, Campbell feels last night’s performance will help her confidence in her own abilities. Last year she did not play much, but because she was redshirted she has skills she developed going into this year.
“It does make me more confident in my ability to do those things every night, last year I didn’t play much so I was still trying to get my footing,” Campbell said. “Now I feel more confident in my ability to score and rebound.”
The team will play Southern Miss on Sunday in Humphrey Coliseum, and tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
