Monday, November 20, 2006

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Head Coach Tony Cross picked up his first win over an SEC opponent on Monday night as the Bruins defeated Mississippi State, 67-60, in Starkville. After the Bruins got a feel for the playing style of the Lady Bulldogs, they started a feverish pitch that MSU was barely able to keep up with.

Belmont began to turn up the defensive heat immediately, pulling down twice as many rebounds. Belmont jumped out to an early 13-8 lead behind the shooting of nearly every player that got on the hardwood. Back-to-back three pointers by freshmen Shaunda Strayhorn (Newbern, Tenn.) and Amber Rockwell (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) and a shot by sophomore Alysha Clark (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) at the free throw line gave BU the 22-10 advantage with just over eight minutes on the clock.

Clark and Bobbitt led the Bruin offensive attack with 19 and 10 points, respectively. Moore and Strayhorn netted a career-high nine points each. Jackson scored a team-high 16 points for MSU and Porter was the only other player to reach double digits with 12 points. Belmont returns to action on Friday, November 24th when they participate in the Vanderbilt Invitational. The Bruins will take on California on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. and could face off against host-Vanderbilt or former Atlantic Sun member Florida Atlantic on Saturday.