No. 10 Mississippi St women top Grambling 107-43

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi State had a definite size advantage on Grambling, taking the floor with 6-foot-7 Teaira McCowan and 6-5 Chinwe Okorie.

They helped the No. 10 Bulldogs dominate inside in a 107-43 rout of Grambling on Saturday. Victoria Vivians scored 21 of her 22 points in the second half and freshman McCowan recorded her first double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds in 14 minutes of play.

"I think (the size) is a tremendous advantage," MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. "If we're going to go to that next level, that's the area we've got to really get better. I think we're getting there."

Okorie added 12 points and 11 rebounds for MSU, which led 50-26 at halftime. McCowan had 15 points, eight rebounds and two blocks at the break.

Darae Taylor led Grambling (1-3) with 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting.

Morgan William converted a three-point play, got a steal on the ensuing inbounds play and converted another three-point play to give the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead in the first minute.

Vivians hit three 3-point shots and scored 13 points in the third when the Bulldogs outscored the Tigers 29-5 and led 79-31 going into the fourth quarter.

MSU outscored the Tigers 56-18 in the paint and out-rebounded the visitors 57-27.

William finished with 12 points and four assists without turning the ball over.

"We had a real focus of going inside and I thought (McCowan) established that," Schaefer said. "It was great to see Victoria knocking down shots, we certainly need that."

TIP-INS

Mississippi State: Vivians missed her first six shots from the field and first three from behind the arc in the first half. After the break, the sophomore guard went 8 of 8 and 5 of 5 from 3-point range.

Grambling: The Tigers turned the ball over 29 times, resulting in 40 MSU points. They managed just six assists and went 0 for 10 on 3-pointers.

UP NEXT

Mississippi State hosts Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday.

Grambling will travel to Southern University next Friday.