STARKVILLE — One of the most dominating post players in the country resides at Mississippi State and a double-double is almost guaranteed to come with each performance.
It’s what made Teaira McCowan’s worst game of the year at Florida such an anomaly to what’s becoming a monster season. She made up for the inefficiency on Sunday.
McCowan, recipient of the last two Southeastern Conference Player of the Week awards, dominated the paint against the rival Ole Miss Rebels to the tune of a season-high 33 points to go along with 13 rebounds. Her performance helped the No. 7 Bulldogs to a 80-49 victory over Ole Miss.
“She is a stud. I love her game. I love what she brings to the table,” Ole Miss head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said of McCowan. “I’m glad she’s a senior.”
Mississippi State's post presence, as a whole, was a burden for coach McPhee-McCuin and the Rebels. Senior forward Anriel Howard added 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bulldogs (19-1, 7-0 SEC) had a 42-14 advantage on points in the paint and out-rebounded the Rebels 43-27.
“Our inside game was really good with (McCowan). I thought she was strong, physical, and our guards did a great job of getting her the ball,” Schaefer said. “This is a good time of the year to start giving us that.”
For the Rebels (8-13, 2-5), Crystal Allen had 15 points, Shannon Dozier had 13 points and former Mississippi State player La'Karis Salter had 13 points in her return to Starkville.
The Bulldogs had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists from Jordan Danberry and got another 10 points from Andra Espinoza-Hunter who was starting her second-straight game at small forward after sophomore Chloe Bibby was lost for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.
Mississippi State jumped out to an 18-10 lead in the first quarter and led 43-22 at the end of the first half after a 14-0 run in the second quarter. McCowan scored 17 points in the first half and Howard added 13.
There was a lull in the second half for Mississippi State where Schaefer would term his team’s pulse as “disinterested”. He mentioned the massive turnout of 10,337 and the fan’s level of intensity as something that should have boosted the level of play by his team.
“We get disinterested so fast and it’s frustrating for me,” Schaefer said. “You’ve got people up there hanging from the rafters and it’s boring because we’ve lost our intensity. I just want more.”
Despite wanting more, the Bulldogs just keep winning.
Sunday was the 31st-straight win at the Hump over the course of three seasons, it was the ninth-straight win overall this season since losing its one and only game of the year at Oregon and the 23rd-straight regular season SEC win dating back to last season.
That will be again put on the line on Thursday when MSU travels to Baton Rouge to take on LSU at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game can be watched on SEC Network+.
