STARKVILLE — Breanna Richardson was in attack mode Sunday afternoon.
No one was happier to see it than Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer.
Three games ago, Schaefer delighted in seeing his senior forward deliver one of her best outings of the season in a 12-point, seven-rebound effort in a loss to then-No. 5 South Carolina. In the next two games, though, Richardson scored nine points and grabbed two rebounds and had Schaefer wondering if the Richardson he loved had disappeared.
Richardson re-emerged in a big way Sunday afternoon, scoring 13 points in No. 5 MSU’s 70-53 victory against Missouri before a crowd of 5,792 at Humphrey Coliseum.
“I don’t think I was in attack mode at first, but I think once I got the breakaway steal then I was like, OK, just go ahead and play and get into your game,” Richardson said. “They don’t really guard (she or Dominique Dillingham) anymore, so we just have to be in attack mode and be ready to knock down shots.”
Richardson added three rebounds and three steals in 27 minutes to help MSU improve to 23-1 and 9-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
The effort was even more special because Richardson scored 11 of her points in the third quarter to eclipse the 1,000-point mark for her career. Her steal in a half-court set and layup provided a spark that helped the Bulldogs snap the Tigers’ five-game winning streak and drop them to 16-8 and 6-4.
“I didn’t know what everybody was clapping for at first, and then one of my teammates told me,” Richardson said of hearing the ovation from the fans after it was announced she had surpassed 1,000 points. “It is like a career goal, so I guess you feel kind of proud for yourself and you have a little moment.”
Schaefer said he talked to his players about being aggressive and attacking the basket against Missouri. He said he wants to see even more of that from Richardson, who has the strength at 6-foot-1 to finish at the rim. She did that with an exclamation point in the third quarter when she drove from the right wing and finished with her left hand on the left block.
“That is the active kid we need,” Schaefer said. “You have her against South Carolina and she is a monster and she is everywhere. Then I have wondered the last couple of games where is that Bre? I need that Bre every night. She impacts our team so much.”
Richardson said she takes it personally when teams defend her like Missouri did and allow her to shoot. On Sunday, Richardson and Dillingham (career- and game-high 24 points) exploited that defense by combining to go 14 of 29 from the field. Their work helped them and classmates Ketara Chapel and Chinwe Okorie earn the 100th win of their MSU careers.
“That’s what I want her to do more and more of, be aggressive and get to the rim and finish,” Schaefer said. “She is such a big, physical presence that if you can get her there nobody can keep her from finishing.”
Defense delivers in third quarter
MSU has made a habit of outscoring teams 26-9 in the first and second quarters.
Against Missouri, MSU added a new combination of numbers — 16-9 — to the mix. That was the margin the Bulldogs outscored the Tigers in the third quarter.
“I thought defensively we came out of the locker room locked in,” Schaefer said. “I thought that was the difference.”
MSU limited Missouri to 2-of-9 shooting from the field in the quarter. The Tigers also committed 12 of their season-high 29 turnovers in the stanza. For the game, MSU had a 35-2 edge in points off turnovers.
“That is a big number,” Schaefer said. “At halftime, it was something like 22-0. We only had eight turnovers, which is a good thing. That is a really unique stat. Fast-break points: 17-2. I like that number, too. I like us when we get going in transition and we get out on the break. That is when these kids can really shine.
Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said the 29 turnovers were deflating and that the Tigers had to take ownership for their decision-making and toughness with the basketball.
“We just really struggled to take care of the ball,” Pingeton said. “You have to give a lot of credit to Mississippi State. (They are) very athletic, (and they are) very quick. They guard extremely well, and I think they do a great job of turning all teams over.”
MSU also held Missouri to a season-low 33.3 percent shooting (15 of 45) from the field. Despite the shooting percentage, Missouri outrebounded MSU 43-25. It was the Bulldogs’ largest deficit of the season, and only the third time this season they have been outrebounded.
Fortunately for MSU, its defense helped make up for that disadvantage.
“You force 29 turnovers and hold someone to 33 percent (shooting from the field), you ought to win,” Schaefer said. “I thought we were really active. Bre kind of got that started, too. She denied one out on the top there at the start of the second half and kind of got us going in the right direction.”
Lack of post scoring
With Missouri sloughing off Dillingham and Richardson to protect the post, Okorie and sophomore center Teaira McCowan combined for their fewest points in a game this season (five).
Schaefer said Okorie, who played all of her 13 minutes in the first half, was OK after the game. She played her second-lowest number of minutes this season. She had five points, five rebounds, and two steals.
McCowan played 19 minutes in the second half (23 for the game). She didn’t score and had four rebounds and two steals.
Still, MSU won the battle of points in the paint 26-16.
Bulldogs without Johnson
Schaefer said junior transfer Roshunda Johnson missed the game because she was back with her family in Little Rock, Arkansas, to be with her mother, who is ill.
Johnson missed three games earlier in the season due to injury, but she has been rounding into form of late. She has played 11 or more minutes in the last four games, and has scored 23 points in the last three games combined.
“We didn’t find out (Roshunda’s mother was sick) until late after the game (against Auburn on Thursday night), so we got her to Little Rock as quick as we could,” Schaefer said. “I saw her mother on Friday night. I was there recruiting and I went by and saw her and was certainly encouraged. She is with her family, and that is where she needs to be. I missed her, though.”
Johnson, a 5-foot-7 guard, who played her first two seasons at Oklahoma State, is averaging seven points and is shooting 45.3 percent from the field (44.4 from 3-point range).
Junior guard Blair Schaefer took Johnson’s spot in the rotation and didn’t score in 13 minutes.
Noteworthy
In the odd statistic category, the game marked the first time this season MSU has had two players — Dillingham (17) and Richardson (12) — attempt more shots than leading scorer Victoria Vivians (11). Vivians, who entered the game as MSU’s leading scorer at 16.9 points per game, had 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting. She played only 27 minutes due to foul trouble. … Junior point guard Morgan William added seven points, seven assists, and three steals for the Bulldogs. … MSU had 15 steals, which tied for the second most in a game this season. It is the third time the Bulldogs have had 15 in a game. … The Bulldogs matched a season low with eight turnovers. It is the fourth time the Bulldogs have had less than 10 in a game. … MSU will play host to Vanderbilt at 8 p.m. Thursday (SEC Network).
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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