BILOXI — Dominique Dillingham told her teammates Wednesday night would be a good time for a fast start.
The No. 10 Mississippi State women’s basketball team then delivered for its senior leader.
MSU found offensive balance early and used hard-nosed physical defense throughout a 66-49 victory against Tulane before a crowd of 1,724 at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum.
“We really wanted to start fast,” Dillingham said. “Since we were playing in a new arena, we wanted to put on a show. We know we will always have our defense going, so we wanted to start strong on offense and get everybody going.”
MSU (3-0) played on the coast for the first time in Vic Schaefer’s five seasons as coach. The partisan-Bulldog crowd was treated to the team’s best defensive outing of the season, as Tulane was held to 49 points and committed 27 turnovers.
“Defensive pressure is what we do,” MSU junior guard Victoria Vivians said. “I am proud of 27 turnovers. That shows we were doing what we were supposed to be doing on the defensive end. You could tell they got a little rattled playing against consistent pressure the whole game.”
The Bulldogs used their defense to set the tone and build a 15-4 lead. Morgan William had a steal and layup, followed by a 3-pointer by Vivians.
MSU led 18-12 early in the second quarter before using a 10-2 run, thanks in large part to strong inside play from Chinwe Okorie and Teaira McCowan.
Tulane (1-1) was held without a field goal in the final 4 minutes, 37 seconds of the half. MSU closed the half with an 8-0 run for a 36-16 lead.
“I really proud of how we played in the first half. It was one of better halves,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “In the second half, we didn’t have the same intensity. A lot of credit for that goes to Tulane. They were a little shell shocked in the first half, but they settled down and played much better in the second half.”
Vivians led the Bulldogs with 17 points, while Breanna Richardson had 11. Dillingham did her usual “stat-sheet stuffing” with team highs of eight rebounds, five assists, and six steals.
Schaefer said he was disappointed in an “off performance” from point guard William. The Bulldogs received a lift from Jazzmun Holmes off the bench, who helped keep things under control.
The Bulldogs had 15 steals and scored 27 points off turnovers. The Bulldogs have forced 65 turnovers in three games.
“We take pride in our defense and always have,” Dillingham said. “Defensive is something you can rely on when things aren’t going your way on the offensive end. Coaches have been preaching guarding hard for four quarters because that is something we are going to have to do to beat some of the elite teams.”
Speaking of elite teams, No. 8 Texas comes to the Humphrey Coliseum for MSU’s home opener Sunday. The Bulldogs have opened with three games away from home and will only play three non-conference games at home. The difficult non-conference schedule is designed to enhance MSU’s chances to play host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament for a second-straight season.
“It feels like we haven’t played at home in forever, so I know everybody is excited,” Vivians said. “We have had these road games and done well. Now, we get to go home and see how we match up against a top-10 team. Since we are in the top 10, too, everybody expects us to be pretty good. This is our chance to show everybody nationwide what we are capable of doing.”
Dillingham said the young players have continued to impress in practice. Gulfport native Ameshya Williams played five minute in the fourth quarter and received a huge reception before scoring four points and grabbing three rebounds.
“You can see everybody is getting better every day in practice,” Dillingham said. “The freshman players came in here not knowing what to expect, but they are learning and growing. (The game against Texas) is a huge opportunity because it will give some of our new players a look at what it takes to play well against really good teams.”
After shooting 39.4 percent in the opening half, the Bulldogs fell off slightly in the final half but were never in any danger.
Tulane closed within 16 twice, but a basket by Dillingham gave the Bulldogs their largest lead, 47-25, with 1:59 left in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs also committed 17 turnovers. Schaefer wants more consistency from his squad and knows it will be needed to beat Texas. Still, he was happy to take his kids to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and expose the program to new fans.
“Really want to thank all of the Gulf Coast Bulldogs for coming out and supporting us,” Schaefer said. “We had a lot of high school students in attendance, and hopefully they got a glimpse of what we are doing with our program.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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