MSU gets 40-point victory
Fresh off of a top 10 win over No. 9 Oregon, No. 5 Mississippi State had no problem on Sunday afternoon with Maine.
Head coach Vic Schaefer thought that his Bulldogs could have played much better than it displayed at Humphrey Coliseum, but an 83-43 triumph was nothing to complain about, either.
“I want to take my hat off to Maine,” Schaefer said. “I thought they played extremely hard. I thought they competed and did all they could do. I thought we were really bland. It’s typical coming off of the win that we had (against Oregon).”
Schaefer’s squad beat the Ducks on Wednesday 90-79 in one of their most impressive outings this season.
Center Teaira McCowan posted 35 points and 19 rebounds in that game for MSU and followed that up with 18 points and 11 rebounds on Sunday.
McCowan’s seventh double-double was impressive for her 26 minutes of play, but it wasn’t good enough for the junior. The six missed shots stood out more for her.
“I got down on myself,” McCowan said. “I left some points out there. I didn’t do too well, but I got a double-double. When I’m not making point-blank layups, I get down on myself.”
The Bulldogs (11-0) shot 50 percent or better for the second-straight game as they knocked down 31 of 62 shots. They held Maine to 32.7 percent from the field (16 of 49)
After closing the first quarter with an 18-4 run to take a 29-12 lead, MSU kept momentum in the second. Maine went scoreless over the final 6:11 in the first half and trailed the Bulldogs 45-18 at the half.
“We got the lead, stretched the lead out more and killed their confidence,” MSU’s Victoria Vivians said. “We went out there and kept our foot on their throat.”
Vivians was also in double figures for the Bulldogs putting up 12 points.
For the Black Bears (6-5), Bianca Millan led the way with 13 points in 31 minutes. Maine turned the basketball over 27 times and Mississippi State cashed in 29 points off of those turnovers.
The Bulldogs also won the battle of the rebounds with 39 boards to 28.
The win was No. 100 for the Mississippi State senior class over the last four years that includes Vivians. It follows up last year’s senior class, which won a schoolrecord 111 games.
“So far they’ve written quite a bit in the history and record books and they’ve got a lot more in front of them,” Schaefer said. “The challenge is to keep putting the pressure on that junior class. These seniors are a special group.”