AUBURN, Ala. — A dominating second-half performance lifted the No. 18 Mississippi State women’s basketball team to its third Southeastern Conference road win of the season Monday night.
Highlighted by the fourth career double-double by Victoria Vivians, MSU led by as many as 21 points in the second half en route to a 59-48 victory against Auburn at Auburn Arena.
“I am pleased with how we responded to end the first half (with a 15-2 run) after we were down seven,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “We are on the road with a young team. You don’t know how they will respond. We just had to stop turning it over. We could defend them on the half court.
“We got some great looks once we stopped turning the ball over. Really pleased with our effort on out-of-bounds plays. Our defense really created some good offense.”
The win helped MSU (21-2, 6-2 SEC) earn its second three-game conference winning streak of the season and claim the best SEC start in school history.
Auburn fell to 9-11 and 0-8. It was MSU’s fifth all-time win at Auburn, second at five-year-old Auburn Arena, and first on the plains since 2011.
Vivians had a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds for her first double-double since Dec. 17 against Louisiana-Lafayette. Martha Alwal had 15 points and eight rebounds. She had all of her points and seven of her rebounds in the second half. She also had three blocked shots to move into sixth place on the SEC career chart with 298.
Breanna Richardson had 15 points, while Dominique Dillingham had six points, eight rebounds, and five assists.
Even though both teams struggled from the field in the opening half, MSU battled to an 11-5 lead. Auburn responded with the next 10 points and built its largest lead, 20-13, with 5 minutes, 26 seconds left in the half. The Bulldogs had a stretch of more than six minutes with only one field goal before Vivians began her hot finish to the half with a 3-pointer. That score brought the Bulldogs within 20-16 and offered a glimpse of what was to come. Vivians had 11 points in a 15-2 run that helped the Bulldogs take a 28-22 halftime lead.
In the second half, Alwal’s resurgence led to a dominating performance. A layup by Alwal ran the lead to 32-22 less than two minutes into the half. Leading 45-35 with 10:38 left, MSU used a 10-0 run to remove all doubt.
MSU hit back-to-back baskets to run the lead to 59-38 before Auburn ended the game with a 10-0 run in the final 4:17.
“Really pleased with Martha’s performance on the boards,” Schaefer said. “Victoria got a double-double, and that is really big for a freshman. We are looking forward to being back home in the Hump (Thursday). We love playing in the Hump. We really need our students out. These kids deserve it. We have a fun team to watch.
“This team (Vanderbilt) stopped our (season-opening 18-game winning streak), so the kids will be really motivated. It is always fun to play in Starkvegas. The Hump is a great environment. It is quickly becoming one of the toughest places in the country to play.”
MSU was 22 of 60 from the field (36.7 percent), 3 of 17 from 3-point range (17.6), and 12 of 15 from the free-throw line (80). Auburn was 18 of 45 from the field (40), 2 of 5 from 3-point range (40), and 10 of 13 from the free-throw line (76.9).
MSU held a 38-30 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 10 assists and 17 turnovers, while the Tigers had nine assists and 23 turnovers. MSU scored 25 points off turnovers.
Brandy Montgomery led Auburn with 21 points. Neydja Petithomme added 11.
MSU will play host to Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. Thursday in a “White Out” game at Humphrey Coliseum. The contest will be available nationally on SEC Network +.
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