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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- Before LaToya Thomas came along, Mississippi State had never won an NCAA tournament game. They way the freshman is playing, the Lady Bulldogs might win a few more before their
season is over.
Thomas had 26 points and 15 rebounds, and Angela Harris had 17
points as No. 12 Mississippi State routed Saint Peter's 94-60
Friday night in the first round of the women's NCAA tournament West
Regional.
"LaToya's presence in the paint is always important to us, and
you could see that tonight," said Lady Bulldogs coach Sharon
Fanning.
Jennifer Fambrough added 16 points and nine rebounds for the
third-seeded Lady Bulldogs (24-7), making just the second NCAA
tournament appearance in the program's 26-year history. They lost
to North Carolina State in the first round last season.
Mississippi State plays the winner of Friday night's late game
between host Oregon and Alabama-Birmingham.
Courtney Wicks scored 18 points to lead Saint Peter's (23-8).
The way Fanning and her players reacted after the game, one
might have thought they'd lost the game instead of getting a
historic victory.
"You've all seen the look of a winner -- that look in their
eyes," said Fanning, whose team had been off for 12 days since
losing the SEC title game to Tennessee. "That's what I'm looking
for. We have to be smarter as a basketball team."
The 14th-seeded Peahens, who won the Metro Atlantic Athletic
Conference tournament, led 14-13 seven minutes into the game and
were tied at 16 before Mississippi State went on a 15-0 run.
Thomas, the MVP of the Southeast Conference tournament, scored
seven points during the run, all in the paint, and Harris had two
3-pointers as Mississippi State began to exploit their edge in size
and speed.
The Lady Bulldogs led 41-29 at halftime and quickly pushed the
lead to 20 when Cynthia Hall sank a 3-pointer, Nitra Perry stole a
pass and Hall made another 3 for a 54-34 lead.
"We picked it up in the second half," Angela Harris said. "It
wasn't pretty, but it was a win."
Saint Peter's, a small Jesuit college in Jersey City, N.J., fell
to 0-6 in the NCAA tournament under coach Mike Granelli, who is in
his 28th season.
Mercy Aghedo, sixth in the nation in rebounding at 11.8 per
game, had 10 rebounds for the Peahens, who were outrebounded 44-49.
Perry had 10 rebounds for Mississippi State, and Harris had 10
assists.
The Lady Bulldogs held St. Peter's to 41 percent shooting, just
above Mississippi State's 39 percent average for the season.
"We let them stay in the game early with second and third
shots, and then we didn't have the firepower to stay with them,"
Granelli said. "We're not used to that level of competition."
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ALSO SEE
Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
St Peters NCAA Team Report
Mississippi State NCAA Team Report
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