STARKVILLE — A stellar showing at the Puerto Rico Classic earned Mississippi State’s Victoria Vivians Southeastern Conference Player of the Week honors on Tuesday.
Also Tuesday, MSU moved up to No. 8 in this week’s USA Today Coaches Poll.
Vivians averaged 14.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.3 steals for the week to help the Bulldogs go 4-0 en route to improve to 11-1.
The sophomore from Carthage tallied 16 points and 5.7 rebounds in three games in as many days to lead MSU to the Puerto Rico Classic championship.
After scoring 10 points in a home win against Southern Mississippi, Vivians had 15 points, 13 in the first half, to lead the Bulldogs to a 65-60 win against reigning Atlantic Sun Conference champion Florida Gulf Coast in the tournament opener.
Vivians added 15 more points the following day against Western Michigan, with nine coming in the second half as the Bulldogs pulled away for the 22-point win.
In Monday’s championship game against SMU, Vivians sparked the Bulldogs to an early lead by scoring 16 of her 18 points in the first half.
With 4 minutes, 24 seconds left in the game and MSU leading by three Vivians had a steal and a layup to give MSU a two-possession lead that it held en route to a 72-70 win.
Vivians, who is second in the SEC in scoring at 18.3 points per game, has scored double figures in 11-straight games, the most since Diamber Johnson had 13 straight in 2011.
The candidate for every national player of the year award eclipsed 700-career points and 100-career made 3-pointers on Sunday.
MSU climbed to No. 8 in The Associated Press Top 25 Poll on Monday. It has been ranked in The AP poll for 25th-straight weeks, including six-straight in the Top 10. The Bulldogs have been in the coaches poll for 24 weeks in a row, with five-consecutive weeks spent in the top 10.
MSU is one of three SEC teams in the USA Today top 10, joining No. 2 South Carolina and No. 7 Kentucky. Texas A&M comes in at No. 14, followed by Tennessee at No. 16. South Florida, MSU’s foe on Dec. 30 in Jacksonville, Florida, comes in at No. 17.
Missouri is receiving votes in the USA Today poll after breaking into The AP poll at No. 25.
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