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| 2004 | Jan |
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02/20/04
Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. Mississippi State picked up a key Southeastern Conference victory Thursday night with a 72-62 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks at Humphrey Coliseum. MSU has won three-straight games in the league to improve its record to 6-5 in the SEC and 12-12 overall. With the
win, State moves in to a four-way tie for fourth in the league standings.
"For this team to be a good basketball team, we have to get what we got out of them tonight," said MSU head coach Sharon Fanning. "We did a good job of adjusting to all of the looks that they showed us tonight."
USC opened the game with a 10-2 run to give it their largest lead of the half at eight points. State responded with a run of its own, outscoring the visitors 13-3 to take a two-point 15-13 advantage on Jessica Carter's three-pointer at the 10:09 mark of the opening half. They took a three-point margin in to the locker room at 25-22. Both teams had cold shooting outings in the first 20 minutes. The Gamecocks made just eight baskets on 26 attempts, while the Lady Bulldogs shot 34 percent for the half. MSU was led by junior Tan White in the first half, who registered 10 of her 32 total points. The Maroon and White is now 11-4 when having a player in double figures by halftime.
The Maroon and White pushed its lead out to as many as 12 points with a 14-4 scoring spurt over a three-minute span. The run was sparked by Carter, who knocked down three treys to give MSU a 56-44 with 6:32 remaining. Statešs biggest lead of the game was a 12-point margin. The Gamecocks trimmed that lead down to six points with under a minute to play. The Lady Bulldogs forced 22 USC miscues, turning them in to 22 points, while holding USC to just 38 percent shooting for the game.
"Jessica (Carter) stepped up and hit some big shots, and Blessing (Chekwa) stepped in and played well also," said Fanning.
Carter finished with 12 points on four three-pointers. Seneca Anderson added 10 points and eight rebounds. Tiania Burns posted a career-high seven assists. Blessing Chekwa registered six points, seven rebounds and a season-high five steals.
Kelly Morrone led the Gamecocks (10-14, 1-10 SEC) with 15 points on five treys. Sarah Burgess finished with 12 points.
MSU travels to Baton Rouge, La. on Sunday, Feb. 22 to take on No. 14 LSU in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 2 p.m. CT.
Source: MSU Media Relations
Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, the 150 student-athletes, from 15 districts, are now eligible for the NABC Division I All-American Team to be announced at the conclusion of the current college basketball season.
Accompanying MSU's Roberts on this year's NABC All-District 6 First Team are Justin Reed of Mississippi, Florida's Anthony Roberson, Jackson native Darius Rice of Miami (Fla.), and Florida State's Tim Pickett.
Joining State's Bowers on the second team are Alabama's Kennedy Winston, Marco Killingsworth of Auburn, Florida's David Lee, and Morris Finley of UAB.
This season marks the third consecutive year that Roberts, also a Wooden and Naismith Award finalist, has earned NABC all-district recognition, having previously been named All-District 9 First Team last season and collecting second-team NABC honors in 2001-02 while starring for the Bears of Baylor University.
Named in honor of the former Boston Celtics legendary playmaker, the Bob Cousy Award was created to recognize the nation's most outstanding male collegiate point guards from all three NCAA Divisions (I, II, III). The award will be presented at a press conference at the NCAA Final Four in San Antonio on Monday, April 5.
Also among the 16 finalists for this year's inaugural Bob Cousy Award are Chris Hernandez of top-ranked Stanford, Jameer Nelson of second-ranked Saint Joseph's and Notre Dame's Chris Thomas. MSU's Bowers is the lone finalist from the Southeastern Conference.
Source: MSU Media Relations
02/19/04
Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs (11-12, 5-5 SEC) are experiencing a late season surge, taking six of the last eight games they have played. State hosts South Carolina (10-13, 1-9 SEC) in its next to last home game of the year on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. CT.
The Lady Bulldogs are coming off of an ugly 54-41 win over Kentucky on the road. It marked the second SEC road win for State. Leading the Bulldogs is junior guard Tan White who is averaging 18.5 ppg, third best in the league and 39th in the nation. Junior guard Tiania Burns is putting up 15.2 ppg. The two have combined for almost 800 points.
There have been several games when the Lady Bulldogs have gone into the lockerroom with individual players posting double digits. White leads the team with nine games in first half double digits, followed by Burns with seven and then Ebonie Ferguson and Mamie McKinney each have had an early double digit production game. State is 10-4 when having at least one player post double figures in the first half.
South Carolina (10-13, 1-9) has lost 12 of its last 14 games. Most recently they fell to Auburn on the road, 69-58. The Gamecocks first conference win came two games ago vs. Alabama, 77-51. They are looking for their first SEC road win of the season.
The Gamecocks average a 36.5 three-point field goal percentage, third best in the league. USC is first in the SEC in 3-point field goals made, averaging 7.83 a game. Senior guard Kelly Morrone has tallied a 43.0 percentage from behind the arc. This could be a three-point showdown, since MSU tends to shoot more from the outside. USC, after losing five letterwinners from last year's squad, boasts seven freshmen and three sophomores on their roster.
MSU leads the series 9-6. The Lady Bulldogs took the last meeting in the quarterfinals of the 2003 SEC Tournament, 79-75. State holds a 6-1 advantage when hosting the Gamecocks, but did fall to USC in the last home meeting in 2002.
After hosting USC, the Lady Bulldogs hit the road for a two-game road swing at LSU on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. CT and then at Vanderbilt on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. ET, before hosting their last home game of the season vs. Alabama, Sunday, Feb. 29 at 3 p.m. CT.
Source: MSU Athletic Media Relations
02/18/04 - Just a little basketball tidbit from the latest release by the Wooden Watch Award committee. The players still on the Wooden Watch Award list were asked if they could do anything for a living, other than playing basketball, what would they do?
Lawrence Roberts answered, "Own and fix up old cars for a collection."
02/04/04
Women's Basketball
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Mississippi State capped off non-conference portion of the schedule with a 73-54 road win against New Orleans Tuesday night.
The Lady Bulldogs outscored UNO 23-8 midway through the first 20 minutes to take their largest lead of half at 34-19 at the 3:13 mark of the half. MSU forced 11 Privateer turnovers, turning them into 10 points for the visitors. They were able to control the points in the lane, scoring 16 of their 39 first half points in the paint. The Maroon and White took a 12-point margin into the halftime break at 39-27.
"New Orleans is always going to be a team that plays hard," said MSU head coach Sharon Fanning. "Tonight, I thought we did a better job of playing against the zone."
The Privateers trimmed the halftime margin down to as many as eight points three minutes deep into the final half, but State pushed its lead back out to 20 points with 12:45 left to play. UNO got to within 14 points, but were never able to get the into single digits.
State had a good showing in the field goal percentage department, shooting a solid 49 percent from the field. In the second half, they were 14-of-27 for 52 percent. They held UNO to just 32 percent shooting, hitting just one three-pointer on the night (1-of-13).
"We are doing a better job of knocking down some shots," said Fanning. "I was glad to see a lot our players get some minutes."
Four Lady Bulldogs scored in double figures, led by junior Tan White who recorded her fourth double-double of the season with her game-high 20 points and 12 rebounds. Seneca Anderson and Louisiana-native Blessing Chekwa each finished with 11 points. Tiania Burns posted 10 points. This is the fourth time this season that State has had four players in double figures.
Jasmine Smiri led the Privateers with 13 points. Susan Griffee added 11 points.
Mississippi State returns to Southeastern Conference action on Sunday against the Lady Rebels of Mississippi. UM won the first meeting of the season, 69-60, in Oxford. Tip off between the in-state rivals is set for 1:20 p.m. in the Humphrey Coliseum. The game will be televised by ESPN2.
Source: MSU Media Relations
02/03/04
Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. The Mississippi State-Mississippi Feb. 8 women's basketball game time has been moved to 1:20 p.m. CT, to accommodate an ESPN2 telecast. This marks the first game televised at home and eighth time in Lady Bulldog history that State has been televised on the network.
More women's hoops...
STARKVILLE, Miss. The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs (8-11, 3-4) look to finish up their non-conference schedule when traveling to New Orleans for a match-up with UNO (8-11) on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. CT.
The Lady Bulldogs are riding high after a last second win over Arkansas, 57-55. Junior guard Tan White hit a fadeaway shot to take the two-point lead at the buzzer for State's third conference win. White, the league's third best scorer, posted her third 30-point outing in the win.
New Orleans (8-11) fell to Denver on Sunday, 58-51, falling to 5-3 at home. The Privateers are led by Monique Taylor who is averaging 13.7 ppg and 6.3 rpg. State looks to be the second SEC school that UNO has faced this year. They fell to Vanderbilt in early December, 75-56, in Nashville.
MSU is 5-7 in non-conference competition this season. Of those seven losses, four schools are now ranked or receiving votes in the top 25. Head coach Sharon Fanning has tallied a 92-36 overall non-conference record and is 21-21 on the road.
This marks the 11th meeting between the two schools. Leading the series 7-3, State has won the last 6 outings in the series and is 3-1 when playing in New Orleans.
Next game for the Lady Bulldogs is Sunday, Feb. 8 vs. Mississippi at 1:20 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
Source: MSU Media Relations