Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
No. 5 Bulldogs rout Razorbacks
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Victoria Vivians scored 29 points, Morgan William added a season-high 18 points and No. 5 Mississippi State beat Arkansas 111-69 on Thursday night.
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.
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.
Arkansas (10-5, 1-1) was intent on limiting McCowan’s impact in the first half, doubling Mississippi State’s 6-foot-7 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.
The Razorbacks were led Jailyn Mason, who scored 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
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 (11-4, 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 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. … 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. Thome opened the game with a pair of baskets in the first minute and the Wolverines (13-3, 2-1 Big Ten Conference) never trailed. Wisconsin (7-9, 0-3) was led by Courtney Frederickson with 16 points.