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HONOLULU -- Its all about the preparation for Chinwe Okorie and it paid off nicely for her Sunday.Okorie scored 12 of her season-high 18 points in the first half as No. 7 Mississippi State pulled away from Hawaii 66-41 on the final day of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown.The 6-foot-5 senior center shot 8 of 10 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds.Honestly, even before today we prepared really, really hard for games up front and just being in this championship game was an opportunity for us to see how much we need to grow, said Okorie, who averaged 12 points and 7.3 rebounds in Mississippi States three games in Honolulu.Bulldogs coach Vic Schaefer praised the play of the Lagos, Nigeria nativeChinwe had a monster game, so I was proud of her, Schaefer said. Shes come a long way. If you could have seen her three years ago, she couldnt walk and chew gum at the same time, so shes really made big strides.Victoria Vivians, the tournaments most outstanding player, scored 10 points for the Bulldogs (7-0).It was the lowing scoring output of the season for Hawaii, which shot just 32 percent from the field and 17 percent (2 of 12) on 3-pointers.Mississippi State opened the game with an 11-0 run and led by as many as 24 points.Sarah Toeaina and Briana Harris had 11 points apiece for the Rainbow Wahine (2-5).Mississippi State held a 33-19 lead at halftime.BIG PICTUREMississippi State: The Bulldogs, who returned all five starters and 90 percent of their scoring from a season ago, did well to build depth in their three games in Honolulu. All 13 players that saw court time scored in an 88-51 win over San Jose State Saturday and all 13 played at least two minutes against Hawaii Sunday.I wanted to work on building our depth and building some of the kids confidence and we were able to do that and obviously thats going to pay off for us down the line, Schaefer said.Hawaii: The Rainbow Wahine, who have dropped three straight games, posted a 21-win season and went to their first NCAA Tournament since 1998 last year, but returned just two starters from that team. Against the veteran-laden Bulldogs, they started three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior.Im not worried about the three (losses) in a row, Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said. Its about our overall record, its about us getting better, which we did tonight.TURNING POINTHawaii took its only lead at 15-13 on Julissa Tagos layup with 8:44 left in the second quarter. However, Dominique Dillingham answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing that ignited a 17-0 Mississippi State run that gave them a commanding 30-15 lead with 2:02 left in the half.STAT OF THE NIGHTThe teams combined for 50 turnovers, 30 of them by the Rainbow Wahine, who had 18 by halftime.We knew we were going to turn the ball over, but 30 times is excessive by any standard, Beeman said. A lot of those were unforced errors, offensive fouls that we need to get under control. Against the number seven team in the country you have to have composure.HE SAID ITWe do have tremendous depth, especially at guard, but it is nice to have two aircraft carriers in there that you can use as well, Schaefer said of his center duo of 6-foot-5 Okorie and 6-7 Teaira McCowan.UP NEXTMississippi State, which is off to its best start to a season since it opened the 2014-15 season with 18 straight wins, will next play at Iowa State Saturday.Hawaii, which is off to its worst start since it opened the 2012-13 season 2-6, will play at No. 9 UCLA Sunday. Air Max Tn Plus Livraison Gratuite . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. Air Max 90 Pas Cher Chine . -- New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis is retiring after a 16-year career to become the goalie coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy. http://www.airmaxpaschersite.fr/basket-air-max-90-outlet.html .J. -- Pitcher Carl Pavano is retiring after 14 major league seasons. Basket Air Max 720 Pas Cher . -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis was charged Thursday with driving while intoxicated, a day after he was suspended for an NFL substance-abuse policy violation. Air Max Pas Cher France . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Mercury reviewed video of their 113-95 loss to the Lynx in Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals before a light practice Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center. Brittney Griner hardly needed the visual reminder of something that bugged her.In 27 minutes Wednesday in Game 1, the 6-foot-8 Griner, the tallest player on the floor, grabbed two rebounds, both on the defensive end. Her 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting meant nothing to her, because scoring isnt her primary gig. Her inside presence keys Phoenixs defense, which came up woefully short in Game 1.Four days after her dominant second-round performance in New York -- 22 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four blocks -- lifted Phoenix into the WNBA semifinals, Griners lack of aggression annoyed her so much that she brought it up without being asked. She knows she needs to be better Friday night in Game 2 (ESPNEWS, 8 p.m. ET).Two rebounds in a playoff game? Thats ridiculous, said Griner, a two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. Its unacceptable. I have to make a better effort at boxing out Syl (Sylvia Fowles), or whoever it is, and getting more boards.Rebounds usually arent plentiful when one team shoots 63.9 percent, as the Lynx did. Yet Fowles grabbed 10, keying Minnesotas 38-20 edge on the glass and 16-2 dominance in fast-break points.I saw a Minnesota team playing one of the best games Ive seen them play, and I saw a Phoenix team that didnt play anywhere near as good as they could play, Phoenix coach Sandy Brondello said. We just didnt give them any resilience or defense. We didnt execute much. Hopefully we play better in the next game.The Mercurys poor defense and inability to slow the Lynx even a little enabled Minnesota to set the league record for points in a regulation-length playoff game. Brondello sat Griner, Diana Taurasi, Penny Taylor and Candice Dupree for the entire fourth quarter, unwilling to overtax them with the game out of hand. In the final minutes, Taurasi turned to jaw with a heckler. It was that kind of night.Our overall schemes were a little bit too passive, Dupree said. Because our offense was going early, our defense slacked. We cant let our defense bbe predicated on our offense.dddddddddddd Regardless of whether were scoring the ball or not, weve got to be able to get stops. Weve got to be more aggressive.The new best-of-five semifinal format, instead of a best-of-three series, means one clunker doesnt decide a series. That takes the elimination edge off Friday night. Brondello said the Mercury prefer playing up-tempo to prevent Minnesota from setting its defense. But that requires Phoenix to play some defense itself.There wasnt much on either side Wednesday, except late in the first quarter, when Minnesotas three-guard tandem of Anna Cruz, Jia Perkins and Renee Montgomery disrupted Phoenixs offense by slowing the hot-shooting Taurasi.The Lynx countered with 14 consecutive points in the second quarter to go up 39-25. Phoenix never recovered. The Mercurys 34-point third quarter made little difference because they gave up 36. Phoenix shot 53.5 percent and still lost big.The first quarter we had a pretty good rhythm, doing things that were hurting them, Taurasi said. In the second quarter it all went away. In the third quarter, we were trading baskets. That doesnt help when youre down double digits.Added Griner: A lot of times they just drove down the middle. Weve got to clog up the paint, make it harder for them to get to the basket. ...In a playoff like this, when you let a team go on a run like that, theyre going to make it hard for you to get it back. We got into a little bit more of rhythm, though, with our offense later on in the game. Now its coming out the next game, applying that at the beginning of the game and all the way to halftime.Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve wasnt thrilled with her teams defense, either, making that a point of emphasis Thursday. Her bench might be thinner for Game 2 if Janel McCarville, who missed Game 1 with back spasms, and Cruz (buttocks contusion) cant go.Brondello also termed backup center Kelsey Bone (left elbow strain) questionable for Game 2. She hurt it in the fourth quarter trying to wrest her arm free from Fowles grasp. ' ' '