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Grimes, Lady Bulldogs prep for Maryland clash with Utah Valley rout |
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Thursday, 19 November 2009 |
By MATTHEW STEVENS
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Mississippi State celebrated its first game as a ranked team in nearly seven years with a 81-35 blowout win over Utah Valley on Wednesday.
The host Lady Bulldogs enjoyed a third straight-blowout win thanks to a turnover-creating defense and several offensive put backs in the lane.
“That’s great that’s you get in the Top 25,” Mississippi State head coach Sharon Fanning-Otis said. “What are you going to do to stay there and how are you going to move up?”
Mississippi State forced Utah Valley (2-2) into 33 turnovers and out-rebounded the Wolverines 21-9 on the offensive glass.
“Coach has high standards for us all the time and she wants us to annihilate opponents who need to be annihilated,” senior forward Tysheka Grimes said.
MSU went on a 36-10 run to begin the contest as Utah Valley got the game’s first basket but didn’t get another one for just over 16 minutes. During that stretch the Wolverines committed 17 turnovers, missed 10 consecutive shots and allowed seven different Mississippi State players to score.
“I think our energy was just high and the second half we let up,” senior guard Alexis Rack said.
Even after a game that ended in a 46-point victory that included Utah Valley only making 12 field goals, the Mississippi State players graded themselves in the B-minus range.
“Maybe we should just get it in our mind that we should score 100,” Rack said. “Obviously we didn’t reach our potential.”
Mississippi State shot over Utah Valley’s zone defense in the first half to the tune of 42 percent from the field and 5-for-15 from beyond the 3-point arc. After 20 minutes of play, the Lady Bulldogs took a 41-14 halftime advantage in the locker room.
Rack led all players in scoring with 16 points on 5-for-12 shooting from the field but the senior was more concerned with not making the team’s expectations defensively.
“(Holding them to) less than 28 points or so would have been an A (grade),” Rack said.
Mississippi State continued turned up the tempo in the second half and beat Utah Valley down the floor on several occasions but ended the game with only 14 fast break points.
Fanning-Otis said she was disappointed with the Lady Bulldogs’ inability to finish layups and their inability to turn rebounds into fast break opportunities.
“We were creating the turnovers (but) I didn’t think we finished well,” Fanning-Otis said. “You have to be able to put somebody away and you have to go for the jugular.”
Fanning-Otis called for a full-court press up 53-19 with a little under 16 minutes left in the game to make sure her squad was prepared for the tougher competition ahead, including an immediate four-game stretch against Maryland, Texas, Rutgers and Southern California.
“I’m probably real hard on them but it’s what I told the girls if you’re expecting a championship then you’re going to have to play like that,” Fanning-Otis said. “You’re going to have to play that way all the time. You can’t play in spurts.”
Rack got help from her friends as five Lady Bulldogs ended the night in double figures. Grimes posted 14 and Diamber Johnson added 10.
Junior guard Mary Kathryn Govero had 13 points, four assists and four rebounds on her 21st birthday.
Utah Valley junior guard Kayla Burningham led her team with 11 points in 25 minutes.
The last non-conference loss for the Lady Bulldogs at Humphrey Coliseum was a 70-58 defeat by Georgia Tech on Dec. 16, 2007 but the players agreed Thursday night’s effort was not used as a statement game before the Lady Bulldogs face Maryland, ranked 20th in the USA Today/Coaches poll, Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
“You can’t be thinking ahead because then that will lead to underestimating people and you don’t want none of that,” Grimes said.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 21 November 2009 )
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