No. 18 Lady Senators trounce visiting Dyersburg State, 99-69

MORRISTOWN, Tenn. — Walters State continued to roll along unbeaten in the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association's women's basketball race by hammering visiting Dyersburg State, 99-69, Saturday afternoon at 'Z' Buda Gymnasium.

Coach Dave Kragel's 18th-ranked club improved to 10-0 in league play as they put four players in double figures with two of those accomplishing double-doubles. The Lady Senators are now 18-4 for the season.

Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu had a huge night as she poured in 33 points and raked down a dozen rebounds for Walters State. Brianna Dixon was the second with a double-double as she scored 14 points and dished out 10 assists in the game.

Those two had plenty of help as Zacharyia Esmon also scored 14 while Diamond Forrest chipped in 11.

Dyersburg State, now 12-11 overall and 2-7 in the league, was led by Morgan Terry with 17 points as she connected on five of seven three-point shots. Kira Lowery added 13 and Hanna Box 12 with all of those coming on 3-pointers.

The Lady Eagles managed to stay close for a quarter before Walters State started to pull away. The margin was 12 at the half but it was apparent the visitors couldn't find a way to stop the Lady Senators' inside play and was only going to get worse.

Kragel was pleased with the play of his team. "I was happy with the way we played today. It was much better than in the win on Friday. I thought we were kind of walking in the mud in that game but today it was much better.

"We got after a team that can really shoot the three," he said. "We're just trying to keep getting better. The girls are working hard to improve and trying to understand how to play better each game."

The coach continued, "The thing about this team is that I really don't look at starters. I really think we have eight or nine kids that we rotate in and keep them rotating so that they're all playing a lot.

"We're trying to keep people on the floor who can run up and down and play on both ends. And this team is getting better," he said. "We just have to keep working."

The Lady Senators shot 49.3 percent from the floor, making 36 of 73 but were only 3 of 16 on 3-point attempts. The visitors were 26 of 62 and made 12 of their 28 from behind the arc. Walters State had a 41-26 rebounding margin.

Walters State never trailed as Mendjiadeu, who hit 13 of 16 from the floor and got the rebound on two of her missed, scored the first five points of the game and then Derrinesha Jackson had a steal and layup for a 7-0 lead just 90 seconds into the game.

After the Lady Eagles reeled off a 9-3 run to get within 10-9, Mendjiadeu hit two free throws and Jamya Rogers added a basket and the home team pulled away to lead 21-17 after one quarter.

Terry grabbed a rebound and scored to open the second quarter to get Dyersburg within two but the Lady Senators scored nine points in 1:16 of play. Esmon had five of those with Dixon and Hannah Jones added buckets in the spree.

The visitors got the deficit down to eight but Walters State rolled out a 14-6 run to lead 46-30. Rogers and Jalayah Manning scored four each to the spree while Dixon nailed a three and Forrest hit three free throws. Dyersburg scored six straight but Mendjiadeu scored at the buzzer for a 48-36 lead.

Walters State turned it into a complete rout with a 17-0 run in the first 2:51 of the second half. Mendjiadeu scored eight of those points. The Lady Senators went on to a 72-52 lead at the final rest stop.

It was 76-57 after Terry hit a three with 8:12 left but Walters State uncorked another big run, this time scoring 14 straight and led by as many as 34 (98-64) down the stretch.

With the 98 coming with 1:19 left, it looked as though WSCC would reach the century mark but made just a single free throw the rest of the way.