Lady Bulldogs Dominate #17 West Virginia to Advance to WNIT Finals
Mississippi State Women’s Basketball Head Coach Vic Schaefer led his squad to a 74-61 win over the #17 West Virginia Lady Mountaineers tonight. With this win, the Lady Bulldogs look forward to a Preseason WNIT Final matchup with the Western Kentucky Lady Hilltoppers. The Bulldogs came into this game with a load of momentum as they averaged over 90 PPG. Also, the squad was without All-SEC player Martha Alwal due to surgery.
The Lady Dawgs dominated the game pretty much from the second half onward. Paced by star freshman Victoria Vivians with 26 points and 5 rebounds, the Bulldogs pulled out to as much as a 15 point lead due to multiple scoring runs. Ketara Chapel ended up with a 19 point, 11 rebound double-double against the #17 Lady Mountaineers, and Breanna Richardson was the only other Lady Bulldog in double digits as she ended up with 10 points. Overall, the Lady Bulldogs struggled from the charity stripe shooting only 15-26 for a 57.7% clip. They were also 25% from beyond the arc (5-20) with most of those coming from Victoria Vivians. Defensively, the Lady Bulldogs ended up with 12 steals, 2 blocks, and 24 forced turnovers. However, the Bulldogs had 13 turnovers themselves with only 8 assists to counter it.
The Lady Mountaineers struggled to stay on the floor due to foul trouble, for the most part. The Mountaineers had 27 fouls overall with 3 players fouling out during the process, including two starters. 6′ 1″ senior F Averee Fields paced West Virginia with 23 points and 3 rebounds. The only other Lady Mountaineer to reach double digit points was junior guard Bria Holmes who accounted for 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists. The three players who fouled out were Teana Mouldrow (7 points), Lenay Montgomery (2 points, 5 rebounds), and Crystal Leary (5 points, 9 rebounds). The Mountaineers struggled with ball control, but had 6 more assists than the Lady Bulldogs amassing 14 assists. The Lady Mountaineers stayed alive by way of the charity stripe by shooting 12 for 13 and a 92.3% rate.
The Lady Bulldogs will prepare for a WNIT Final game against Western Kentucky throughout the weekend. The Preseason WNIT Final will take place Sunday at 2:00 PM at the Hump. Tickets are available from the MSU Ticket Office for $5 for adults. Kids high school age and under are able to enter for free, and MSU students can get into the game for free by using their MSU ID. After this result, it seems the Bulldogs will be ranked going into next week. If the Lady Bulldogs are not ranked, it would be a disappointment for sure considering the work they have done lately.