Sharon Fanning’s Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs took a break from Southeastern Conference action and hosted Morris Brown College in Humphrey Coliseum Saturday night. MSU smoked the visiting Lady Wolverines 95-45 to improve its overall record to 17-9 while dropping MBC to 3-22. In the opening half, State went on a 25-4 run to gain a 20-point lead after the game was tied at nine just five minutes into the game. MSU took a 56-30 halftime lead into the locker room after shooting a red-hot 74 percent from the field.
The Lady Bulldogs finished the game shooting 56.7 percent from the field and 52.2 percent from long range. MSU had 12 three pointers, just short of the school record 14 set at Iowa State in November.
“We had an opportunity to improve and try some different things and for the most part we took advantage of that,” Fanning said.
Although playing limited minutes compared to her 34 per game average, LaToya Thomas once again led State in scoring with 22 points. Accompanied with her 10 rebounds, the two-time All-American from Greenville recorded her 11th double-double of the season and the 31st of her career. Thomas also matched her career-high in blocks with three.
Freshman Rebecca Kates had a career night, scoring 19 points, which included five three-pointers. The 6-1 forward from Cashion, Okla., grabbed career highs of eight rebounds and three steals while playing a career-high 28 minutes.
Freshman standout Tan White put on a dazzling show once again, this time recording her ninth double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 assists. The 5-8 guard from Tupelo, was just three rebounds and three steals shy of a quadruple-double. White’s seven steals tied the career high she set at Kentucky in early January.
Also scoring in double figures for the Lady Bulldogs, sophomore Jessica Carter and junior transfer Renea Jones chipped in 10 points each. Junior Keisha Stringfellow added eight points and seven assists.
Sophomores Meagan O’Nan and Lyndi Sippel added five and three points, respectively, while freshman Charmaine Johnson added two points. Sippel, making her fourth start in place of the injured Jennifer Fambrough, grabbed four rebounds while O’Nan and Johnson each had one.
The Wolverines were led by Latonya Sherman with 11 points and six rebounds for the visitors. Jennifer Wilcoxson scored nine points for MBC while Tawanna Thomas chipped in eight.
“This is a big stretch coming up for us,” Fanning said. “Our objective is to improve this week and go into LSU with the right mind set and things will take care of themselves.”
The Lady Bulldogs jump back into SEC action on Thursday, Feb. 21, when they travel to Baton Rouge, La., to take on the LSU Lady Tigers in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Tip off is set for 7 p.m.
The Lady Bulldogs will return home on Feb. 24 to close out their regular season schedule against the 14th-ranked Florida Lady Gators.<</p>