Dec. 4, 2008

Box Score

STARKVILLE -- Chanel Mokango scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Mississippi State to a 72-42 win over Louisiana Tech Wednesday night at Humphrey Coliseum.

Tech (2-4) committed 26 turnovers in the game, including 16 in a first half that saw the Lady Bulldogs (5-0) pull out to a 17-point halftime advantage.

"Mississippi State is a much-improved basketball team," said Tech head coach Chris Long. "You have to give them credit. However, we didn't handle their pressure and we didn't execute. It starts with us.

"Obviously, not having Shanavia (Dowdell) at full strength hurt us. They are a very big team and we needed her size and strength inside to off-set them. That's no excuse because we didn't play well."

Dowdell, Tech's leading scorer and rebounder who was coming off a 30-point, 16-rebound performance against Western Kentucky, tried to play despite wearing a brace on her knee that she hurt in the loss to WKU.

The junior scored four points and grabbed two rebounds in 15 minutes before leaving the game with 18 minutes to play after hitting her head on the floor while trying to take a charge.

Without Dowdell at full strength, Tech was no match for the 6-foot-5 Mokango who hit 6-of-8 field goals and patrolled the lane all night.

State used an early 10-0 run to pull out to a 16-4 advantage at 13:52 to play on a Robin Porter jumper. After Tech scored four straight points close the lead to eight points, Mississippi State used a 9-0 run and led 25-8 at the midway mark of the first half.

The Lady Bulldogs led by as many as 19 in the first half before entering the locker room leading 37-20.

Tech hit their first two shots of the second half before State answered with a fastbreak layup on the play that Dowdell was lost for the game.

Mississippi State shot 40 percent (38-70) for the game and hit 14-of-18 free throws while holding Tech to only 31 percent (19-of-62), including only 1-of-16 from the three-point line.

Whitney Jones led Tech with 11 points and five rebounds.

Tech returns to action Saturday at 6 p.m. against Arizona.