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McCowan leads No. 1 Mississippi State past Arizona State

Reuters

Teaira McCowan had a double-double (22 points and 13 rebounds) and became the career leader in rebounds in the NCAA women's basketball tournament, leading No. 1-seed Mississippi State to a 76-53 win over No. 5 Arizona State on Friday night in a Sweet 16 game at Portland, Ore. McCowan, a senior selected as the SEC Player of the Year, has 225 rebounds in NCAA Tournament games, breaking the record of 221 held by Sylvia Fowles of LSU from 2004 to 2008. The Bulldogs (33-2) will play the winner of No. 2 Oregon and No. 6 South Dakota State game (played late Friday night) in an Elite Eight game in the Portland Region on Sunday. ASU ends its season 22-11. Four other Mississippi State players also scored in double-figures -- Jazzmun Holmes (13 points and seven assists with no turnovers), Andra Espinoza-Hunter (12 points), Anriel Howard (11 points) and Jordan Danberry (11 points). ASU's Kianna Ibis, beset by foul trouble throughout, went scoreless in the first half but finished with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. Mississippi State, which has won 11 straight games, took control of the game with a late 7-0 run in the first half. The Bulldogs held ASU scoreless for 3:52 -- to go into halftime with a 32-24 lead. The Sun Devils had 10 turnovers and shot 37 percent from the field by halftime. Danberry and Espinoza-Hunter each had seven points and McCowan had seven rebounds for the Bulldogs in the first half. All of them had two fouls at that time. McCowan, averaging 18.3 points a game entering the game, had only two points at halftime. She finished with her 30th double-double of the season. ASU could not get closer than six points in the second half. Mississippi State pulled away in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Sun Devils 22-8. McCowan had 15 of those points on 5-of-7 shooting. She also had two steals in the fourth quarter. ASU was outrebounded 42-31 and committed 16 turnovers, which allowed the Bulldogs to outscore the Sun Devils 17-5 in points-off-turnovers. --Field Level Media