STARKVILLE, Miss. – Despite out-shooting No. 6 Mississippi State, the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team dropped its Sunday afternoon contest at Humphrey Coliseum, 86-70.
Mariella Fasoula matched a collegiate-best with 29 points as the Athens, Greece, native was 13-of-16 from the field and 3-of-5 from the charity stripe.
Cierra Walker collected 17 points and Chelsie Hall rounded out the Commodores in double-digit points with 12, the most since being injured on Nov. 21.
The Commodores shot 57.0 percent from the field, with the Bulldogs connecting at a clip of 49.2
After going into the locker room trailing 38-31, the Commodores came out to net the first five points of the half, cutting the Bulldogs’ lead to two, 38-36. But Mississippi State responded with a 17-4 run to take its largest lead of the game, 56-40.
To end the third and open the fourth stanza, Vanderbilt netted eight unanswered to come back within eight, 63-55, but was unable to hang on.
Vandy out-rebounded Mississippi State, 31-30, but the Bulldogs forced 23 turnovers and converted them into 25 points.
With the loss, Vanderbilt moved to 6-21 (1-13 SEC) while Mississippi State improved to 25-2 (13-1 SEC).
The Commodores will be back in action on Thursday at Tennessee. Tip is set for 6 p.m. CT.
