LOS ANGELES — Mississippi State is still livin’ the dream in California.

Madina Okot had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, Eniyah Russell also scored 14 points, and No. 9 seed Mississippi State beat No. 8 California 59-46 on Saturday in a first-round game in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament’s Spokane 4 Regional.

“We talked about how much respect that we have for Cal and that it was going to take our best defensive effort all year to come out with this win, and what I think everyone just witnessed is that best defensive effort all year,” Mississippi State coach Sam Purcell said.

Mississippi State has won at least one game in each of its last five NCAA Tournament appearances.

The reward for the Bulldogs (22-11) is a much tougher assignment in round two. They’ll take on No. 1 seed Southern California (29-3) on its home floor Monday at 9 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN.

USC set an NCAA Tournament record for fewest field goals allowed in a 71-25 victory over UNC Greensboro on Saturday. UNC Greensboro finished 7-for-54 from the field (13 percent). Its 25 points tied for the second-fewest ever in an NCAA Women’s Tournament game.

“I hit my staff about five times because the way they rotate bodies and keep throwing McDonald’s All-Americans in there, I think it’s going to be the McDonald All-American kids against the Burger King kids — or what’s the awesome hamburger spot here, In-N-Out? Let’s go. Maybe we get an NIL deal with In-N-Out,” Purcell said. “But seriously, they are loaded with talent. Every poll, because I pay attention to what people write, the story line here in Hollywood has already been written. It’s USC going to face UConn in the Elite 8. So like any good movie, we need a plot twist.”

Mississippi State also showed it can play defense with the best of them. California (25-9) only had one field goal in the first nine minutes of the game and shot 25 percent (13-for-52) for the game. It was 3-for-21 from 3-point range.

Ugonne Onyiah made a free throw with 7:45 left in the first quarter for the game’s first point. Okot scored on a tip-in 20 seconds later to put Mississippi State ahead 2-1, and the Bulldogs did not trail again.

“Our emphasis this week was defense. We knew defense was going to win us games. Jumping out the gate strong, defense being very active, we worked on that in practice, active ball hands. They are great passers and a very smart team. They can pick you apart,” said Mississippi State guard Jerkaila Jordan, who finished with 10 points. “Today, we came, we were locked in in the first quarter, and like you said we got a lead up on them early and made sure we stayed solid all four quarters.”