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MSU WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ROLLS PAST SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
STARKVILLE,
Miss. – Behind a season-high 23 points from Porsha Porter, the
Mississippi State women’s basketball team rolled to a 71-57 victory
over in-state rival Southern Mississippi Friday night at Humphrey
Coliseum. Bouncing
back from a disappointing 63-62 loss at Louisiana Tech Sunday
afternoon, the Lady Bulldogs improved to 8-2 overall and 7-0 at home.
The Lady Bulldogs have now won four straight in the series, while coach
Sharon Fanning-Otis moved to 10-5 all-time against the Lady Eagles. “We
did a good job pressuring them defensively,” Fanning-Otis said. “Porsha
Porter forced a lot of turnovers for us, although it was a team effort
she had a lot to do with it. As a team, finding a way to have good
defense is the key.” The
Lady Bulldogs forced 25 Sothern Miss turnovers and turned those
takeaways into 31 points. The Maroon and White scored the game’s first
12 points and immediately sprinted out to a 15-1 advantage. After that,
the Lady Bulldogs would not lead by less than five the rest of the way. “Fifteen
to one to start the game,” Southern Miss coach Joye Lee-McNelis said.
“We are not ready to start. We had six turnovers in the first few
minutes of the game. We were all out of whack and could not make a
change.” The
Lady Bulldogs also got good balance for the fast scoring start. Kendra
Grant scored the game’s first five points, before Ashley Brown and
Porter hit back-to-back baskets. Porter rammed a 3-pointer home for the
12-0 lead. The
Lady Eagles (3-6) closed within 17-12 on a layup by Jamierra Faulkner.
Southern Miss took advantage of MSU’s own turnover troubles to stay
afloat. However, a 3-point basket by MSU’s Darriel Gaynor and
followed-up steal by Brown and layup by Johnson ran the advantage back
to 24-14. MSU shot 46.2 percent from the field in the opening half and led 36-30 at the intermission. “We
have to play the whole game like we came out,” Johnson said. “When we
have teams down we have to continue to play hard and keep them down,
instead of letting teams come back. We have to finish strong.” The
Lady Bulldogs did indeed finish strong with a brilliant second half.
MSU opened the final half with 24-6 run as the lead suddenly grew to
60-36 with 8:41 left in the contest. Defensively, Southern Miss was
held to eight field goals in the final half, including a 9 minute, 35
second stretch with only one field goal. “We
just need to get the scoring in double figures more consistently,”
Fanning-Otis said. “This game, we were very close. Our guards got to
the free throw line like we want them to. We have to keep our opponent
off the line, but overall our percentage was better.” The Lady Eagles closed the game with a 9-2 run to create the final margin. For
the contest, the Lady Bulldogs hit 23 of 54 shots from the field (42.6
percent), 6 of 17 shots from 3-point range (35.3 percent) and 19 of 25
shots from the foul line (76.0 percent). The Lady Eagles hit 19 of 57
shots from the field (33.3 percent), 4 of 18 shots from 3-point range
(22.2 percent) and 15 of 19 shots from the foul line (78.9 percent).
MSU
held a 39-35 rebounding advantage. The Lady Bulldogs had 14 assists and
22 turnovers, while the Lady Eagles had nine assists and 25 turnovers. Porter
posted her monster night on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor. The senior
guard also hit three 3-pointers and 6-of-8 foul shots. Porter is
averaging 20.7 points per game in her last three starts. “I was just bringing energy to the team,” Porter said. “I knew Diamber had an off night so I had to step up.” Also
in double figures for MSU were Grant with a career-high 13 points and
Johnson with 11 points. Brown had a team-high 10 rebounds and a
career-high six steals. Johnson added seven assists and a career-high
three blocked shots. Southern Miss received 21 points from Tanecka Carey, 13 points from Niesha Pierce and 11 points from Ance Celmina. MSU hosts Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m. Monday. The Ragin’ Cajuns are coached by former MSU assistant coach Errol Rogers.
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