STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State women’s basketball team showed Sunday it has the potential to have a potent one-two punch.
Now the Lady Bulldogs will work on finding more weapons to add to their go-to arsenal.
Diamber Johnson scored a game-high 24 points, and Porsha Porter added 20 to lead MSU to an 84-48 victory against the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith before a crowd of 850 in an exhibition game at Humphrey Coliseum.
“I don’t know if their averages will be that high as you go along, but they need to take the shots they were taking,” MSU coach Sharon Fanning-Otis said. “For the most part, their experience showed. They’re seniors, and we need that punch. We need them to be consistent, and they young ones are going to learn as they go along.”
MSU has five days before its season opener at 7 p.m. Friday against Jacksonville State to work on identifying players to complement their senior backcourt leaders.
Johnson looked confident directing the attack in a game-high 34 minutes. The 5-foot-7 point guard, who emerged as a bigger scoring threat in the final third of last season, led all scorers with a 10-of-19 effort from the field. She also had four assists (four turnovers).
“Hopefully we continue that,” Johnson said. “I am not surprised at all.”
Porter, who also grew more comfortable down the stretch, was 8 of 9 from the field and had three rebounds and two steals in 30 minutes, second most on the team.
“I would like to bring energy to the team,” Porter said. “I am trying to bring that throughout every game and to lift my team up. That’s what I am going to continue to do.”
Fanning-Otis wants the team to find more balance in scoring. She also hopes the Lady Bulldogs can take better care of the basketball (14 assists, 17 turnovers) and do more from the free-throw line (17 of 30). Still, she was happy with how the team rebounded (a 55-48 edge) and said she enjoyed the opportunity to see all 15 players, including four freshmen, earn minutes and to see different combinations work together.
Freshman guard Kendra Grant (nine points, 2-of-12 shooting), senior forward Ashley Brown (10 points, eight rebounds), and freshman guard/forward Shamia Robinson, of West Oktibbeha County High School, (seven points) followed in the scoring column to lead 10 players who scored in the rout.
Robinson, who played multiple front-court positions, showed her versatility, grabbing three rebounds, blocking two shots, and hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the key. She is still working her way back from a knee surgery in the offseason, and Fanning-Otis likes her athleticism and her attitude and feels she will be able to contribute.
Fanning-Otis also likes the dimension Grant, a 5-11 guard/forward, adds to the lineup. The freshman from Richland High School played most of her minutes on the wing. Even though she struggled to find her shooting rhythm, she didn’t hesitate to take her shot or to try to make things happen off the dribble.
“Kendra is going to learn,” Fanning-Otis said. “She knows the game and has a good knack for it and a good feel. Every day is going to be a learning process for the these young ones, but she is going to be a good basketball player as she progresses.”
MSU’s half-court offense, especially its inside-outside attack, also is maturing. The Lady Bulldogs didn’t get a basket off a low-post set until Brown scored off a high-low pass from freshman Martha Alwal (zero points, tied for game-high 11 rebounds) at the 17-minute, 56-seconds mark of the second half. MSU didn’t need Alwal, Bett, or Brown, their three primary post players, to be a force because the Lady Bulldogs capitalized on screens and the hot shooting of Johnson and Porter and got out in transition to score 27 points off 21 turnovers.
But Johnson and Porter said that won’t stop them from pushing all of the post players to do more.
“They have to work for it just like we do,” Porter said. “If they continue to work, we’re going to continue to get them the ball. If they don’t work, they don’t get the ball.”
That’s part of the “Family” mind-set MSU will use as motivation to get back to the NCAA tournament after a 13-17 season in 2010-11. If that push helps the Lady Bulldogs find more scoring options, it will translate into another one-two scoring punch that will make things even easier for Johnson and Porter.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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