WAREGEM, Belgium — Following a much-needed night of rest and a day of touring the historic town of Ghent, the Mississippi State women’s basketball team returned to the court and took care of business once again Thursday evening, rolling to a 105-45 win against Waregem Basket.
The Bulldogs reached the century mark for the second-straight night and had all 14 players score.
Freshmen Victoria Vivians and Blair Schaefer paced the Bulldogs with 13 points. Breanna Richardson recorded her second-straight double-figure game, pouring in 12 along with Martha Alwal.
Vivians recorded nine of her 13 points in the second half, while Schaefer hit three 3-pointers in the opening half before going 4-for-4 at the free throw line in the second half.
All but one of Alwal’s points came in the first half, and she scored six of those early to put MSU in front 7-2.
With just under eight minutes to go in the first quarter, Savannah Carter scored to put MSU in front 9-2. After Saar Bogaert made it a five-point game, the Bulldogs closed the quarter with a 14-0 run. Victoria Vivians sparked the run with four points, while fellow freshmen Morgan William and Schaefer added three points each.
MSU once again turned up the defensive pressure and held Waregem Basket without a field goal until the 7-minute, 30-second mark of the second period, when Emily Le Compte hit a 3-pointer to cut MSU’s lead to 30-7.
Waregem Basket could get no closer, though, as MSU closed the quarter with a 25-9 run that made it 55-16 at halftime.
“We didn’t play as well as we did last night. We had some young kids get to play some more tonight, and I thought they played hard,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “Kayla Nevitt was very active when she came in the game, and Victoria seemed to be a little more relaxed and played better.”
Richardson extended a 6-0 run to close the first half to an 8-0 run with a bucket to open the third quarter. Waregem Basket added a free throw, but MSU extended the lead to 66-21 before the host squad got five-straight points from Lara Vankeirsbilck.
Nevitt answered with a 3-pointer that sparked an 11-4 run to close out the quarter. William followed Nevitt’s trey with an old-fashioned three-point play, and after a Vivians free throw, Chinwe Okorie scored consecutive field goals to give MSU an 81-30 lead after three quarters.
“Chinwe was her usual self on the glass with 10 rebounds, but she didn’t finish a lot,” Schaefer said. “She is very active and hard to keep off the glass. We just have to get her finishing better.”
Okorie, who grabbed 10 rebounds and came a point shy of a second-straight double-double, opened the fourth quarter with her sixth consecutive point. After two free throws by Vivians, Okorie put in her final points of the game to put MSU in front 87-33.
After two Schaefer free throws and consecutive buckets from Ketara Chapel, Vivians converted back-to-back field goals to put MSU up 97-38 with a little more than three minutes remaining.
Schaefer again knocked down a pair from the stripe, and Vivians put MSU over the century mark for the second-straight game with a basket. LaKaris Salter and William capped the scoring for the Bulldogs.
MSU will be in Paris today for its third game of the trip, an 11 a.m. matchup against AMW Select.
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