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RUSTON ââ'¬" Sophomore guard Victoria Vivians scored 36 points, including 28 in the first half, to lead No. 9-ranked Mississippi State to a 93-63 win over Louisiana Tech before 3,519 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center Sunday afternoon.

After head coach Tyler Summitt's Lady Techsters came out of the gates strong, scoring the first nine points of the game, Vivians spearheaded a 19-0 run and leading Mississippi State to a 53-25 halftime lead. Vivians hit 7-of-10 three-pointers in the opening two quarters as Mississippi State shot a blistering 63 percent (22-35) from the field in the first half.

"You have to credit Coach Schaefer," Summitt said. "He has done an incredible job in his four years at that program, to bring in recruits and put them in his system. They get after you. They were not overlooking us at all this time. I think they did a little bit last season, but they came ready to battle. We could not matchup with them in size, athleticism and [Victoria] Vivians was our key player coming in. She went 7-for-10 from the three-point line in the first half. It was just dagger after dagger."

Tech (4-5) scored on its first four possessions of the game as a pair of Brandi Wingate free throws with 7:20 to play in the first quarter gave the Lady Techsters a 9-0 advantage. It didn't last long. Vivians nailed three three-pointers over the next three minutes and scored 11 points in the 19-0 Bulldogs run.

"Right after that 9-0 run, they were all over us," Summitt said. "That is the sign of a good team. A lot of times rankings do not mean a lot, but they looked like the number nine team in the nation tonight or maybe even better. You have to credit them. A good team exposes your weaknesses. Our weaknesses are that we have a lack of intensity sometimes on defense, so that was the open shots. They hit some contested shots, but just like with Arizona, they got open shots. Again with turnovers, that has been our Achilles heel consistently this year."

When Vivians wasn't draining three-pointers, Mississippi State's full-court defensive pressure was forcing turnovers as the Bulldogs converted 16 first half LA Tech miscues into 24 points and a 53-25 halftime lead.

The third quarter wasn't much better for LA Tech. Mississippi State continued its torrid shooting, building an 82-36 lead at the end of the third frame.

However, the Lady Techsters refused to quit. Behind the play of Wingate, who scored 17 fourth quarter points, including 13 straight, the Lady Techsters cut into the Mississippi State advantage. Tech forced MSU head coach Vic Schafer to insert his starters back into the game with over six minutes to play. Tech outscored Mississippi State 27-11 in the final quarter.

"We were proud of our team in the locker room for that," Summitt said. "We just asked why it took so long for that. We should have started pressing more. We cannot rely on the defense to get us going, you have to be self-motivated every single time and I do not think we are consistently, top to bottom, self-motivated. It was good for all of our players to play minutes against a Mississippi State, because what that game does is prepare you for conference. I do not think any of our conference teams can be that consistent, in that many areas."

Tech returns to action Saturday when it hosts UL-Lafayette at 6 p.m.