Bulldogs fold late in loss to the Tide
Signs were there throughout the first part of the Southeastern Conference schedule for Mississippi State but the No. 14 Bulldogs had won the last two games to dress up some of the wounds.
Alabama exposed the wounds even more for the women’s hoops team on Thursday night. The Bulldogs built a 12-point lead against the Crimson Tide only to completely collapse in the second half and be outscored by 19 points in the final half in a demoralizing 86-78 defeat to Alabama.
“Hats off to Alabama – they came in with an attack mentality and they had us in our heels in the second half,” MSU head coach Nikki Mccray-penson said. “We had them right where we needed to in the first half and we talked about what to expect in the second half and we didn’t handle it. You can’t give a team that shoots 3s, layups and free throws those looks.
“We can’t lose games like this, especially when you have the game in control. We went away from what we do.”
It was the second-straight season that the Crimson Tide have come to Starkville and knocked off the Bulldogs. This one played out similarly to last year with MSU losing a lead and faltering down the stretch. The Tide dominated the Bulldogs on the boards in the second half and pulled down 16 offensive rebounds to help get the win.
Alabama (11-1, 4-1 SEC) also got big contributions from the entire starting five with all of them scoring in double figures. Jasmine Walker and Ariyah Copeland each had doubledoubles with 17 points and 10 boards for Walker and 11 points and 13 rebounds for Copeland. Jordan Lewis had 22 points and went 11-of-12 from the line with seven rebounds and four assists, Megan Abrams had 18 points and Hannah Barber finished with 12 points and four 3-pointers.
The 3-pointers were especially tough for MSU in the first three quarters. Alabama hit 11-of-30 in the game and also frequently got to the freethrow line with 17-of-21 from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs were 7-of-10.
Following a first quarter to forget for the MSU defense, things swung the Bulldogs’ way in the second. The Tide went ice cold from the field after hitting 5-of-9 3-pointers in the first quarter in a 22-21 Bulldog lead. State capitalized on a 2-for-19 second quarter from Alabama and it pushed that lead out to 44-33 and was playing its best game in SEC play to date.
That feeling quickly faded in the second half as MSU regressed back to the issues that it had in the previous games. The Bulldogs couldn’t get stops in the third quarter as Alabama