Mississippi State is through to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, with the No. 9 seed Bulldogs leading nearly the entire way in a 59-46 victory over No. 8 seed California on Saturday in Los Angeles.
The Bulldogs went ahead on a 9-0 run in the first quarter, and the Golden Bears did not make a field goal for more than six minutes to start the game. MSU maintained its lead despite missing its first six shots, then missing nine in a row during the second quarter.
Against a team that turns the ball over even more often than MSU does, the Bulldogs forced Cal to cough it up 12 times in the first half, with Denim DeShields, Jerkaila Jordan and Madina Okot each picking up two steals. Okot played excellent interior defense against Ugonne Onyiah, holding her to 1-for-6 shooting in the half, although she was not much better herself on the offensive end.
Only Lulu Twidale was making shots for the Golden Bears, with four of her team’s six first-half field goals. Things were more balanced for MSU, which certainly left some points out there but trailed for just 21 seconds in the half despite shooting 26 percent. Jordan took one of her steals all the way for a layup and a 3-point play, though she was called for a technical foul for celebrating in front of a Cal player.
Eniya Russell started the second half with a driving layup, then found Okot inside to give the Bulldogs a double-digit lead and force the Golden Bears to take a timeout. But Cal responded well and prompted a timeout from MSU head coach Sam Purcell after trimming its deficit to six.
Onyiah started to get going inside with the Golden Bears’ 3-pointers not falling. The Bulldogs (22-11) bounced right back with a 7-0 run of their own, though, and carried a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter. From there, MSU held off every Cal rally and kept the Golden Bears an arm’s length away the rest of the game.
Takeaways
1. MSU did an excellent job denying Cal easy looks from behind the arc. The Golden Bears (25-9) take the most 3-pointers per game of any team in the ACC, led by Twidale and Ioanna Krimili, and the Bulldogs executed their defensive game plan well from that standpoint, holding Cal to 3-for-21 from deep. MSU was active with its hands in the backcourt and the frontcourt, and the Golden Bears did not do themselves any favors with some unforced wayward passes and offensive fouls. The result was 24 turnovers for Cal, which the Bulldogs turned into 17 points.
2. The Bulldogs showed they can survive a difficult showing offensively. MSU shot poorly throughout the first half, especially from distance, but did a good job crashing the offensive glass and went to work in the paint, outscoring Cal 32-18 there. Okot got the better of her matchup with Onyiah, finishing with 14 points and 13 rebounds in her NCAA Tournament debut. Combined with the Bulldogs’ defensive efforts, it was enough to carry MSU through to the second round.
3. USC will be a much bigger challenge. Led by arguably the best player in the country in sophomore JuJu Watkins as well as star post player Kiki Iriafen, the Trojans are a No. 1 seed for a reason, and beating them on their home floor will be a tall order Monday. USC held UNC Greensboro to 25 points in its first-round win Saturday, and led by former Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, is one of the most complete teams in women’s college basketball. The Bulldogs will need to slay a dragon in order to reach its first Sweet 16 since the Vic Schaefer era.
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