Mississippi State Women’s Basketball Tops Chattanooga, Advances To Second Round

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI Sports) – The 5th-seeded Mississippi State women’s basketball team beat Chattanooga, a 12 seed, 60-50 Friday at The Hump. The Bulldogs advanced to play 4th-seeded Michigan State Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in Starkville in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Playing a home NCAA tournament game for the first time in program history, the fifth-seeded Bulldogs delighted a Humphrey Coliseum crowd of 5,115 with a spirited come-from-behind effort to knock off the No. 12 seeded Mocs in the Bridgeport Regional.

“It was one heck of a basketball game,” MSU head coach Vic Schaefer said. “UTC came in with a good plan. I am really proud of my kids for adjusting. Everyone who came into the game impacted the game in a positive way. I feel fortunate that we won. It was a total team effort against a well-coached team.”

In the other game played in Starkville, fourth-seeded and No. 16 Michigan State knocked off No. 13 seed Belmont 74-60.

Sunday, MSU (27-7) will face Michigan State (25-8) with a berth in the Sweet 16 on the line. A game time and television assignment will be set by the NCAA Friday evening.

Victory No. 27 matched last year’s school record for wins in a season for the Bulldogs, who are headed to the second-round of the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive season and the seventh-straight time in MSU’s eight appearances.

Mississippi State used a dominant size advantage underneath, claiming a plus-15 rebounding advantage. Chinwe Okorie had 12 points and nine rebounds. Ketara Chapel also had seven rebounds. Victoria Vivians again led the team in scoring with a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds.

“It was a total team effort out there,” Okorie said. “Everyone put the team first today. We are excited about how we played as a team. We are excited about playing at home. Our fans were here. It was like playing in the SEC Tournament again. It was really great.”

UTC hit seven of its first 13 shots from the field and built a 16-11 lead after one quarter.

After UTC scored first in the second quarter, the Maroon and White began to rally. A layup by Teaira McCowan and jumper by LaKaris Salter had the Bulldogs within 20-17. A 3-pointer by Salter gave the Bulldogs the lead for good at 24-21.

UTC was actually held without a field goal over the final 7:13 of the second quarter, and the Bulldogs used a 16-1 run to build a 29-21 halftime lead.

Vivians capped a 4-0 run as the Bulldogs built a 33-21 lead, but UTC came right back and pulled within 37-35 thanks to an 8-0 run.

Again, Vivians had the answer with a layup and back-to-back treys to stretch the lead to 46-40 after three quarters.

UTC closed within three points with 5:57 remaining, but sophomore Morgan William scored on a putback to cap a 7-0 run as the Maroon and White closed out the victory.

For the contest, MSU hit 21 of 63 shots from the field (33.3 percent), 3 of 12 shots from 3-point range (25.0 percent) and 15 of 20 shots from the foul line (75.0 percent). Chattanooga hit 20 of 51 shots from the field (39.2 percent), 2 of 13 shots from 3-point range (15.4 percent) and 8 of 9 shots from the foul line (88.9 percent).

MSU held a 44-29 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 10 assists and 17 turnovers, while the Mocs had nine assists and 19 turnovers.

Chattanooga received 17 points from Jasmine Joyner, as well as 10 points each from Keiana Gilbert an Aryanna Gilbert.