CSUN TAUGHT A LESSON WOMEN; MISS. ST. 98, CSUN 64.

Byline: Lee Barnathan Staff Writer

School has been out at Cal State Northridge since the week before Christmas, but since you can learn something every day, Mississippi State's women's basketball team gave a lesson.

Northridge has talked about taking its game to the next level. The 21st-ranked Bulldogs - the first nationally ranked team to play here in Northridge's Division I era - gave a glimpse of that level in a 98-64 nonconference victory before a crowd of 165 Friday night.

It ended CSUN's 16-game home win streak.

Whether the Matadors learned from the Bulldogs (10-0) remains to be seen. The Big Sky Conference season begins Thursday at Northern Arizona, but the Matadors don't believe they'll face anyone of this caliber.

"Our conference isn't that strong," Edneisha Curry admitted, "so we have to play hard and play with the type of desire and heart night in and night out, so we can play with Mississippi State and all the other ranked teams."

For now, they have completed the most difficult portion of the schedule with two losses to nationally ranked teams in Illinois and Mississippi State and a win over an NCAA Tournament team in Dartmouth. It leaves them 6-4, the same record they had at this time last year.

Then again, they weren't talking about elevating their game at this time last year. Since the Matadors have reached the NCAA Tournament and are hungry for more, Mississippi State provided clues to what they need to do.

It's the basics: shoot a high percentage, rebound well and commit fewer turnovers and fouls. Shooting 36.7 percent, taking just 28 boards and committing 17 turnovers might be enough to win the Big Sky, but it won't get you past Mississippi State, which shot 50.7 percent and took 51 rebounds. Although the Bulldogs turned over the ball the same number of times, they also committed six fewer fouls.

It also helps to have a player like freshman LaToya Thomas, who can deliver points in bunches when needed. Thomas scored 33, including 18 in the first half, but was most valuable in the second half when she scored eight points in a 10-0 run that ended any hope of a Northridge comeback. CSUN had cut a 50-25 halftime deficit to 59-45 with 12:21 to play and had some momentum.

"Our goal in the second half was to cut it to 10 by the 10-minute mark," CSUN coach Frozena Jerro said.

Actually, Northridge has a Thomas-like player in Curry, who scored 21 points. But she made 9 of 23 field-goal attempts, far below Thomas' 11 of 18.

The other time Northridge was close was when it scored eight straight points and trailed 13-12 with 12:46 to play in the first half. Mississippi State responded with a 25-7 run in 9:10 to put the game out of reach.

"Right now, they're getting a lot of experience," Bulldogs coach Sharon Faning said. "They need to work on footwork, defense, rebounding - same as us."

Three other Mississippi State players scored in double figures: Jennifer Fambrough (22), Cynthia Hall (11) and Meadow Overstreet (11). Northridge got 14 from Lynda Amari and 13 from LaShaunda Fowler.

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Photo: Cal State Northridge's Neda Milic finds herself surrounded by Mississippi State defenders during the first half of a nonconference game at CSUN.

Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News