Bulldogs upset Lady Volunteers
Mississippi State was at a crossroads heading into Monday night's matchup with one of the Southeastern Conference's best teams in Tennessee.
After back-to-back games in which the Bulldogs weren't within single digits after the first quarter, head coach Sam Purcell challenged his team in a week off from action. The Lady Volunteers represented an even bigger reality check coming in at 9-1 in the SEC.
The deck was stacked against the Bulldogs in many moments in the game, but they never folded. After 74 total free throw attempts and two overtimes, State prevailed with the marquee win of Purcell's inaugural year in a 91-90 victory over Tennessee.
“We bend, but we don't break,” Purcell said. “Sometimes things don't go your way. We heard the noise from the fan base. We had a great talk this week and we went back to the basics. At some point, we've got to look in the mirror, we've got to climb the mountain.”
Despite the Lady Vols making an incredible 37-of-44 free throws off of 30 fouls from the Bulldogs, State stayed in the fight. Jessika Carter and Ahlana Smith fouled out and Anastasia Hayes, Asianae Johnson and Jerkaila Jordan stepped up to the forefront.
Hayes had 14 points with 11 of those coming after halftime. She had eight rebounds, four steals and three assists in 40 minutes. Jordan had 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting with 2-of-3 makes from 3-point range and six rebounds with three steals. Johnson was a spark plug off the bench with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting.
“We just had each other's backs,” Hayes said. “When my teammates have my back, I can feel the positive energy. The energy was there (Monday).”
It was a game that never could be corralled by either team as neither wanted to flinch. State trailed 15-13 at the end of the first quarter and was tied at 31 at halftime and then Tennessee had the 51-49 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs had their chances to put the game away. One of the key moments came with 1:32 left on the clock. A foul call on a missed shot by Tennessee drew the ire of Purcell. As Denae Carter was boxed out on a rebound and fell to the ground, the call went against the MSU sophomore forward. Leading 68-65, Purcell picked up a technical foul in his response and the Lady Vols made three of the four free throws to tie it up.
As the game went to overtime, another chance to put the game away came and went for State. The Bulldogs were up 7874 with 31 seconds left and Hayes was fouled on an intentional foul. Instead of icing the game, Hayes missed two free throws and then former Bulldog Rickea Jackson got a steal and a foul that closed the lead to 78-76.
MSU missed two more free throws from Jordan with 25 seconds left and Jackson would tie it in the final 15 seconds to send the game to double overtime. It looked from there that it just wasn't going to be in the cards for State and a 3-pointer from Tennessee early in overtime number two made it 81-78.
Like they had been all game – the Bulldogs wouldn't be denied. Bench players Johnson and Ramani Parker started a 9-0 run for MSU that included free throws from Hayes to push the lead to as much as six points with 1:39 left. Tennessee got the game to two points on a couple of occasions, but free throws down the stretch gave the Bulldogs a win.
“My teammates had confidence,” Hayes said. “We told each other that we fought too hard to lose the game. When it came down to crunch time, we live for these moments. We executed and did what we had to do to get the win.”
While the Lady Vols spent a lot of time on the free throw line, MSU ran up a bill on their trips to the foul stripe as well. The Bulldogs were 19-of-30 and shot 32-of-67 (48%) from the field. The 3-point shot was big for State as it made 8-of-20 and
State had 15 turnovers in the game but just six in the second half and overtimes combined.
Defensively, the Bulldogs forced 23 turnovers and scored 21 points off of those. MSU also had 40 bench points. Tennessee won the rebounds 46-36. Jackson had 28 points on 7-of-18 shooting and had 11 rebounds on her return to Humphrey Coliseum where she had played for the Bulldogs the last three seasons.
The win was a big one for Purcell and his team. It was State's first Quad 1 victory of the year after knocking off a Lady Vol team ranked No. 19 in the NET. MSU came into Monday's game No. 39 in the NET and is inching back into the conversation for the NCAA Tournament.
Now, the Bulldogs just have to finish strong. Florida is next on the docket on Thursday as the team travels to Gainesville on Thursday night at 6 p.m.
“(Monday) we had success because we got back to the basics,” Purcell said. “You guarded the ball, you were relentless as a team, you gave everything you had in a rebounding effort and if you do that night in and night out, you have a chance in the SEC.”