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The Lady Bulldogs improved to 2-0 on the young campaign and will resume a season-opening, four-game homestand by hosting Utah Valley at 7 Wednesday night.
Once again, the Lady Bulldogs never trailed on Sunday. After forcing 34 turnovers in a season-opening 106-48 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, MSU forced 21 more in Sunday’s victory.
“We had good balance and it was a great team win,” MSU head coach Sharon Fanning-Otis said. “When you can hold a team below 30 percent (shooting), it is going to create some opportunities for you. I felt like we had the spurts.”
A basket by Tysheka Grimes lifted the hosts to an early 6-0 advantage. At the 10:20 mark, a basket by Armelie Lumanu placed MSU ahead 19-9. After a 3-point play by ETSU’s Gwen Washington cut the deficit to 22-16, the Lady Bulldogs used the final 9:20 of the half to piece together the game-deciding run.
The hosts held a 43-22 advantage at halftime. The Atlantic-10 member Lady Bucs (1-1) closed within 45-29 on a Siarre Evans jumper with 17:06 left. An 11-2 run highlighted by a 3-point basket from Ashley Jones moved the Lady Bulldogs back out of danger.
“We are taking some steps in the right direction,” said, MSU junior forward Mary Kathryn Govero, who had a team-high 12 rebounds. “We just have to keep working hard. We have to bring that intensity to practice every day and keep preparing for each game we have.”
For the contest, the Lady Bulldogs hit 32 of 73 shots from the field (43.8 percent), 7 of 27 shots from 3-point range (25.9 percent) and 9 of 13 shots from the foul line (69.2 percent). The Lady Bucs hit 19 of 65 shots from the field (29.2 percent), 2 of 15 shots from 3-point range (13.3 percent) and 10 of 14 shots from the foul line (71.4 percent).
MSU had 15 assists and 15 turnovers, while ETSU had six assists and 21 turnovers.