PERKINSTON — An explosive third quarter earned Mississippi Gulf Coast its first women’s basketball victory of the 2021 season after the Bulldogs stormed to a 69-54 win over Delgado at the Weathers-Wentzell Center.

“Our press really changed the momentum of the game,” Gulf Coast coach Hope Adams said. “Also, Beverly Tillman had a heck of a third quarter. She was the sparkplug for us. I told them coming into the second half, it’s our time to become better and grow into things and play freely.”

Tillman (Fr., Laurel/Laurel) scored 24 points, including 11 in the third quarter while nailing three 3-pointers. Sharisse Bridges (Fr., Jackson/Callaway) and Aniya Saddler (Fr., Columbus/Columbus) added 10 each.

Gulf Coast (1-3) scored 34 points in the third quarter after taking a 27-22 lead to the locker room. The Dolphins had it down to four before Bridges knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to start a 13-0 run. It turned into a 19-2 spurt that made it 49-28 with 4:50 to play in the quarter.

The Bulldogs took their biggest lead just before the quarter ended and were up 61-33 headed into the fourth. They got a bunch of easy buckets.

“We’ve been struggling with our transition game,” Adams said. “All of our points have been the hard way. Tonight we scored 20 points in layups.”

Gulf Coast returns to action Monday when Southwest Mississippi visits Perkinston. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. To keep attendance within the governor’s COVID-19 restrictions, no tickets are available for the general public. The game will be streamed at http://mgcccbulldogs.com/stream.

For more information on MGCCC’s 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.