Miss. St. falls just short of record vs. Miss. Valley St.

Dec 29, 2017, 04:26 am

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Tearia McCowan's career-best scoring night could have been even better.

Facing the helpless defenders of winless Mississippi Valley State, the 6-foot-7 McCowan towered over the Devilettes to score 41 points, and No. 5 Mississippi State scored the second-most points in school history in a 112-36 victory.

"Teaira could have had 100," coach Vic Schaefer said. "She is making some really tough shots. She's getting better. She's developing a real soft jumper, a real touch off the glass and smoothing things out."

McCowan put together the 12th 40-point game in Mississippi State history and the first since Morgan William scored 41 in last season's NCAA Tournament. She added 13 rebounds for her sixth straight double-double and ninth this season.

"(All of the accolades) are nice but I'm going to continue to just play my game and work hard at practice," McCowan said. "When I play my game, all of the other stuff will come."

The 112 points were just five shy of the school record set in 1986 against Judson.

The Bulldogs (14-0) put the game away in the second quarter with a 24-0 run, holding the Devilettes scoreless for nearly 8 minutes. Mississippi State outscored Valley 30-4 in the quarter for a 59-20 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs added an 18-0 run early in the third and led 88-26 after three quarters.

"I spent the entire first quarter trying to get people to play hard. The second and third quarter were more indicative of what I want," Schaefer said. "We held them to four and six points in the second and third quarter."

Victoria Vivians added 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting for the Bulldogs. Roshunda Johnson scored 14 points.

Kristy Parker had 10 points in 29 minutes to lead the Devilettes (0-11).

Mississippi State finished undefeated in non-conference play for the second straight season and has now won 35 straight regular season games outside the Southeastern Conference.

"Non-conference is over," Schaefer said. "Now it's time to play for keeps."

UP NEXT

Mississippi State travels to Georgia on Sunday.

Mississippi Valley State hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Monday.