Mississippi State takes care of Georgia at home
A Georgia and Mississippi State matchup has garnered the reputation of being physical, defensive and, most of all, competitive since Vic Schaefer and Joni Taylor have gone head-to-head.
Five of the last six games in the series coming in had been decided by single digits with Mississippi State winning four of those. That includes a 73-66 win for No. 8 Mississippi State back a month ago in Athens and Monday night was following the same pattern.
Georgia held Mississippi State to just 11 points in the first quarter but the home team heated up and would eventually take care of business in a 6753 outcome.
“It just seems like our games are always ugly,” Schaefer said. “We played pretty clean (Monday). I was proud of our defense. When you see us play, you're always watching two well-prepared teams and are really competitive. That's why you get the tough games that we play.”
On a night where Mississippi State was included in the NCAA selection committee's top 16 at halftime as a potential No. 3-seed in the
Portland Regional, it didn't play like a team crisp for March Madness.
Following a poor first quarter where Mississippi State shot 4 of 19 from the field and trailed 15-11, things started to shift.
MSUE (20-3, 8-1 SEC) outscored Georgia 23-10 in the second quarter and 22-13 in the third to take full control of the game.
Turnovers were the difference in the contest as State took care of the ball and Georgia didn't. The discrepancy was telling as MSU had just nine and Georgia committed 25 of its own. Mississippi State had 24 points off of those turnovers.
“I thought we were pretty locked in (Monday),” Schaefer said. “Our execution in that first quarter wasn't too good, but we were pretty locked in. We were really focused.”
Georgia (12-10, 3-6 SEC) had 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes from guard Que Morrison and 12 points from Maya Caldwell. It also had a key loss in the first half when leading scorer Gabby Connally collided with State's Jordan Danberry and had a cut on her eye that would require her to go to OCH Regional Medical Center and receive stitches.
Taylor confirmed after the game that there was no fracture and there didn't seem to be any issues beyond that. Her presence was most certainly missed as the visiting Bulldogs couldn't take care of the basketball.
“When you don't have your primary point guard, it becomes difficult,” Taylor said. “We didn't handle that very well. We've got to take better care of the basketball.”
For Mississippi State, it was all about freshman Rickea Jackson, who posted a second-straight career high night scoring. Jackson had 22 points against Auburn and followed that up with 24 on Monday. She started the night 3 for 10 from the field but hit five of her six shots in the second half.
“It was just a matter of me knocking it down,” Jackson said. “When my teammates keep giving me the ball and have confidence in me, it gives me more confidence.”
Center Jessika Carter finished with her eighth double-double of the year with 15 points and 11 rebounds in 30 minutes. Jordan Danberry had a rare off night scoring the ball with just two points, but the senior finished with five assists and five steals.
It was the second-straight game that Mississippi State has started off slow as it trailed Auburn by as much as nine points last Thursday before winning the game by five. That's something that Schaefer needs his team to clean up as it now hits the toughest part of the schedule.
MSU goes to No. 23 Tennessee on Thursday night for a 5:30 p.m. tip on SEC Network, comes back home on Sunday to take on No. 16 Texas A&M on ESPN at noon and then travels to No. 15 Kentucky on Feb. 16.
It's been three-straight wins in the series with the Lady Volunteers, who the Bulldogs dropped 36-straight in the series to start the program. Mississippi State has won two-consecutive games at Thompson-boiling Arena.