Tulane University
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Mississippi State
Women's Basketball Falls At Mississippi State, 70-55
Dec 4, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2011
Tulane/Mississippi State Game Book In PDF Format 
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Freshman forward Adesuwa Ebomwonyi recorded the first double-double of her career with 13 points and 11 rebounds, but it was not enough as the Tulane University women's basketball team dropped a 70-55 decision to Mississippi State Sunday afternoon at the Humphrey Center.
Lady Bulldogs' guard Diamber Johnson had the hot hand early and often, scoring State's first 10 points en route to a game-high 28. Mississippi State entered Sunday's game averaging just over three 3-pointers per game, but connected nine times from beyond the arc - including three by Johnson. With the loss, Tulane fell to 6-2 on the year. Mississippi State, meanwhile, improved to 7-1.
"I certainly think Mississippi State really stepped up today," Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton said. "They played very, very well today. You look at (Diamber) Johnson, she was on fire - especially in those first five minutes. Mississippi State does not make this many 3s. They made nine 3s in this game and that's tough to combat. When you look at our defense, they shot just 39 percent, but we shot 31 percent and had 20 turnovers. You can't beat a good opponent that way."
Tulane trailed by 11 points at 44-33 4:47 into the second half, but got consecutive baskets by Ebomwonyi and a layup by freshman guard Jamie Kaplan over the next 2:51 to make it 44-39. Mississippi State stretched its lead back to double-digits on a Johnson trey and Tulane answered a free throw and layup by freshman forward Tiffany Dale. Two possessions later, senior center Brett Benzio laid one in off the glass to make it 54-47 with 7:23 remaining in regulation. That, however, would be the Green Wave's final field goal until a Katye Magee 3-pointer with 15 seconds on the clock to account for the final score.
The Green Wave defense held Mississippi State to a 39.7 field goal percentage (25-of-63) and out-rebounded the Lady Bulldogs, 45-39. State's 3-pointers proved to be the difference and the Green Wave contributed to its own troubles by hitting just 31.0 percent of their shots for the game (18-of-58) - including a 26.7 mark in the second half (8-of-30) - and committing 20 turnovers.
Ebomwonyi was joined in double figures by Kaplan, who finished with 10, while junior Olivia Grayson had nine points and eight rebounds. Grayson also led the team with four assists while Kaplan had two of the team's eight steals.
"I thought our effort was there," Stockton said. "I thought we really tried to execute some things on defense. On offense, we had a lot of open shots and just needed to knock them down. As they took a little advantage on us, I thought we started taking some bad shots. That's just something this team will just take, learn and grow from. We need to figure out what kind of shots we need to take in certain situations and when a team makes a run at you, you've got to make them play defense a little bit."
Johnson staked Mississippi State to the early lead as the Lady Bulldogs' guard scored 10 of the game's first 16 points to stake the home team to a 12-4 lead. The Green Wave rallied back to knot the score at 18-all when junior forward Janique Kautsky converted a layup with 8:05 left to play in the half, and took the lead 2:09 later when Kaplan drained a 3-pointer to put Tulane on top 24-23.
The Wave padded their lead with a pair of free throws by rookie Tiffany Dale, but Porsha Porter sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a layup to give Mississippi State a 31-26 lead at the break. Tulane scored the opening points of the second half on a pair of Grayson free throws to cut the deficit to three at 31-28, but that would be as close as the Green Wave would get the rest of the way.
Johnson was one of four Mississippi State players to post double-digit scoring totals as Porter had 14 and the duo of Ashley Brown and Kendra Grant posted 11 each. Brown tallied the Lady Bulldogs' lone double-double with 11 rebounds and shared team-high assist honors along with Johnson and Porter with three apiece.
The Green Wave return to action on Friday, Dec. 9, when they travel to Denton, Texas, to take on the Mean Green of North Texas. Tipoff for that game is slated for 7 p.m. From there, Tulane will return to Fogelman Arena on Sunday, Dec. 11, when the Wave play host to Southern at 2 p.m.
For tickets to that game and future Green Wave home events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office either in person, over the phone at 504-861-WAVE (9283) or via the Internet at www.TulaneGreenWave.com. The Ticket Office located on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr. Center on Ben Weiner Drive, is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
