Southern Miss
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Mississippi State
Southern Miss Falls to No. 5 Mississippi State 72-50
12/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) Brittanny Dinkins led the Golden Eagles with 18 points in a 72-50 loss to No. 5 Mississippi State on Saturday.
Breanna Richardson scored a season-high 19 points and Chinwe Okorie added 18 for the Bulldogs.
Mississippi State (9-0) never trailed, jumping out to a 21-6 lead by the end of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs exploited their considerable size advantage in the post during the early run, with the 6-foot-1 Richardson and 6-foot-5 Okorie converting easy opportunities.
Southern Miss (7-2) cut the lead to single digits a few times in the second and third quarters, but couldn't hit enough shots to make things close.
Mississippi State won handily despite a subpar game from star guard Victoria Vivians, who finished with 11 points on 5 of 15 shooting. Richardson was there to pick up the slack, shooting 7 of 9 from the field and grabbing 10 rebounds.
BIG PICTURE
Southern Miss: The Golden Eagles have had a lot of success so far during nonconference play, but Mississippi State was a huge step up in competition. Southern Miss had solid guard play for most of the game, but couldn't keep the Bulldogs from getting easy inside looks.
UP NEXT
Southern Miss: Southern Miss is off for more than a week before playing California in the Puerto Rico Classic on Dec. 19.
