No. 5 Bulldogs rout Razorbacks
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Victoria Vivians was honored a few minutes before Thursday night’s game for topping 2,000 points in her impressive four-year career.
There were no huge emotions from Mississippi State’s senior guard. Just a few smiles, a wave, a hug or two and then a vintage performance that provided more than a few clues about how she piled up all those points.
“I just take the award,” Vivians said, “and move on to the game.”
Vivians scored 29 points, Morgan William added a season-high 18 and No. 5 Mississippi State beat Arkansas 111-69.
Mississippi State (16-0, 2-0 SEC) broke a fairly tight game open in the third quarter by outscoring Arkansas 30-18. Vivians made all seven of her shots during the run, pouring in 15 points.
“I thought Victoria was really special again just taking over the game,” Mississippi State Coach Vic Schaefer said. “You can’t guard her when she’s in that zone.”
Vivians finished 13 of 20 from the field and had nine rebounds. Teaira McCowan scored 18 points, Blair Schaefer added 14 and Roshunda Johnson had 13 points and 10 assists.
Arkansas (10-5, 1-1) was intent on limiting McCowan’s impact in the first half, doubling Mississippi State’s 6-foot7 center at every opportunity. That strategy kept McCowan’s numbers down, but it also left William open for 15-foot jumpers and she scored all of her 18 points to give the Bulldogs a 49-39 halftime lead.
“I didn’t hesitate,” William said. “I just took it and they went in.”
The Razorbacks were led by Jailyn Mason, who scored 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Devin Cosper and Kiara Williams added 13.
Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors said he wanted to make life tough for McCowan and make William beat them with the outside shot.
“Morgan William played great,” Neighbors said. “We had a number in mind — I was going to make her make eight shots before we really changed defensively. Then she made eight in the first half. I thought she was phenomenal.”
Neighbors said he was pleased with large portions of the game, even if the outcome got lopsided in the final quarter.
“There are moral victories and we did a lot of really good things,” Neighbors said. “If I as a coach go in there and only pick out the bad stuff, then we’re never going to make progress. I do feel good. I’m getting on that plane very happy.”
In other Top 25/SEC women’s games Thursday, Marina Mabrey scored 21 points, Arike Ogunbowale had 20 despite struggling from the field and No. 2 Notre Dame survived an upset bid by Miami in an 83-76 victory. Jessica Shepard had 12 points, Jackie Young added 11 and Kathryn Westbeld scored 10 for the Irish (14-1, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). Erykah Davenport scored 24 points but just two in the final quarter for Miami (114, 1-1 ACC). … Asia Durr had 22 points and came back from a first-half leg injury to grab a key rebound late that helped No. 3 Louisville (17-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) survive a fourth-quarter rally by No. 17 Duke for a 66-60 victory. Haley Gorecki made 10 of 14, including five threes, for a career-high 25 points to lead Duke (11-4, 0-2), which outshot Louisville 49 percent to 43 percent. … A’ja Wilson had 25 points and 15 rebounds, Alexis Jennings and Doniyah Cliney had 14 points apiece and No. 4 South Carolina beat Mississippi 88-62. The Gamecocks (13-1, 2-0 SEC) had an answer for every Rebel rally and eventually pulled away in the fourth quarter. Madinah Muhammad scored 29 points to lead the Rebels (10-5, 0-2). Alissa Alston scored 11 and Shelby Gibson had 10. … Jaime Nared scored 19 points, Evina Westbrook made a tiebreaking basket with 1:43 left and No. 7 Tennessee outlasted Auburn 70-59 to remain unbeaten and snap the Tigers’ seven-game winning streak. Tennessee (14-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) withstood a season-high 28 turnovers and continued its best start since winning its first 18 games in 2005-06. Daisa Alexander scored 16 points off the bench for Auburn (10-4, 1-1). … Stephanie Mavunga scored 25 points and Kelsey Mitchell added 21 to help No. 10 Ohio State rout Minnesota 91-75. Ohio State (13-2, 2-0 Big Ten) won its seventh in a row, including all six games in the month of December. Destiny Pitts paced Minnesota (12-4, 1-2) with 28 points, including seven three-pointers. … Nausia Woolfolk scored a career-high 18 points and No. 11 Florida State beat Clemson for the 17th consecutive time in a 69-47 rout. Woolfolk scored 10 points in the first half as Florida State (14-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) built a 31-16 lead and never trailed. Alexis Carter scored 16 points to lead Clemson (10-5, 0-2) and Ivy Atkism added 12 points. … Kaila Charles had 12 of her 24 points in the first quarter, Blair Watson had nine of her 13 in the fourth quarter and No. 13 Maryland took control early to defeat No. 18 Iowa. Charles had six points in an early 14-3 run that gave the Terrapins (14-2, 3-0) the lead for good. Any hope of a late charge by the Hawkeyes (14-2, 2-1) was dashed by Watson, who drilled all three of her three-pointers in the fourth quarter. … Chloe Jackson scored 22 points, including four free throws in the last 10.4 seconds, and LSU ended No. 15 Missouri’s 13-game winning streak, 69-65. Raigyne Louis added 16 points for LSU (10-3, 2-0). Jordan Frericks had 19 points and 15 rebounds for Missouri (13-2, 1-1). … Khaalia Hillsman scored 20 points and Danni Williams added 19 as No. 19 Texas
A&M held off Kentucky’s late surge for a 74-70 victory. Hillsman scored six points and Williams added five for the Aggies (12-4, 1-1 SEC) during a 15-7 stretch that spanned the third and fourth quarters for a 66-57 lead with 7:32 to play. … Katelynn Flaherty scored 20 of her 25 points in the second half, Hallie Thome added 20 points and No. 22 Michigan pulled away for an 80-57 victory over Wisconsin that gave Coach Kim Barnes Arico the most victories in school history.