Next Game: at Southern Miss 12/14/2018 | 6:00 PM MSU Radio Network

andeach collected double-doubles as No. 6 Mississippi State survived a huge challenge from No. 18/15 Marquette, shooting its way to an 87-82 victory in women's basketball action Thursday night at Humphrey Coliseum.MSU (9-0) beat its second straight ranked opponent by shooting 49.3 percent from the field and enjoying a plus-13 rebounding advantage.The Bulldogs won their 45straight non-conference game in regular season play. MSU also extended it home win streak to 26 straight, the third longest active home win streak in the nation."What a heck of a game," MSU head coachsaid. "Want to commend Marquette for coming in here and playing unfazed. It was a tremendous game. Proud of us for finding a way when it was not our best night. Anriel had an unbelievable night. (Teaira) goes for another double-double. They were special tonight."We are a long way from being a finished product. Tonight, we had some rough edges that were exposed, but we made enough plays, got enough rebounds, made enough stops there at the end."Howard collected her second double-double on the season with an MSU-career-high 29 points and 12 rebounds. McCowan collected her seventh double-double this season with 24 points and 18 rebounds.added 13 points.had a career-high 13 assists, while matching her career high with two blocked shots.Overall, the Bulldogs finished with eight blocks and five steals. However, the squad did give up 21 fast-break points.The contest was tight throughout with eight ties and 25 lead changes.The Bulldogs scored six straight points to lead 15-11 late in the first quarter. A 3-pointer by Howard ran the lead to 20-15. The Golden Eagles, however, shot 10-of-14 from the field for a 23-22 lead after one quarter.The home team scored four straight points to open the second quarter. Again, the contest swung back-and-forth as the Golden Eagles answered with nine straight points to take a 38-30 lead.Marquette was then held scoreless over the final 2:53 of the quarter. The Bulldogs scored the final 12 points of the half to take a 42-38 lead at halftime.A 3-pointer by Bibby highlighted the run and gave the Bulldogs a 40-38 lead.The lead was again swapped a couple of times early in the third quarter. An 8-0 run gave the Golden Eagles a 62-55 lead, but the Bulldogs then battled back to hold a 63-62 lead to end the period.After another hard-fought fourth quarter, the Bulldogs took the lead for good with 1:43 to play on a basket in the lane by McCowan to make the score 80-79.A layup by Bibby ran the lead to 85-82 with 13 seconds left. Holmes made two free throws, and Bibby picked up a block to close the game with an 87-82 edge.For the contest, the Bulldogs hit 33 of 67 shots from the field (49.3 percent), 4 of 11 shots from 3-point range (36.4 percent) and 17 of 20 shots from the foul line (85.0 percent). The Golden Eagles hit 33 of 61 shots from the field (54.1 percent), 8 of 21 shots from 3-point range (38.1 percent) and 8 of 11 shots from the foul line (72.7 percent).MSU held a 40-27 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had 21 assists and 14 turnovers, while the Golden Eagles had 13 assists and 15 turnovers.Marquette (6-2) received 27 points from Danielle King, 18 points from Natisha Hiedeman, 17 points from Allazia Blockton and 10 points from Amani Wilborn. Wilborn had a double-double as she also collected a team-high 10 rebounds.MSU will take a week off for final examinations before returning to action on Friday, Dec. 14 for a 6 p.m. start against in-state foe Southern Miss in Hattiesburg.