Bulldogs hold off Horn Frogs
STARKVILLE – Game one of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament was a blowout for Mississippi State against Georgia Tech, but head coach Sam Purcell knew that the second game wouldn’t be as easy.
A TCU team that had fought through injuries and lack of numbers all year came to town with no fear and the Horned Frogs had a lead in the final 5 minutes. The Bulldogs had to dig down deep and find a way to make sure that the Humphrey Coliseum crowd went home happy as the team closed on a 14-5 run to win 68-61 on Sunday.
The win moved MSU (2311) to the WBIT quarterfinals.
“You watched two teams that are highly competitive and that have had an unbelievable season,” Purcell said. “We knew it would be an absolute dog fight. We knew that it would be a 40-minute war and I’m just thankful we were the better team at the end to pull it out.”
The Bulldogs had to survive a 3-point barrage from the Horned Frogs as the visitors shot 12-of-29 from long range while making just 10-of-25 inside the 3-point line. While TCU did some damage from distance, the MSU defensive game plan was stellar.
TCU (22-14) turned the ball over 18 with the Bulldogs scoring 19 points off of those. MSU also held 6-7 post player Sedona Prince to 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting and turned her over six times.
Jessika Carter had the assignment on the talented Prince and did a nice job of disrupting her game. Carter also finished with 17 points on 5-of-14 shooting with 7-of-8 makes on the freethrow line and eight rebounds in 33 minutes.
“It was a fun game today just playing against someone like (Prince),” Carter said. “I haven’t played against someone with that size or length this whole season. Just having that matchup was preparing me for the pros and she is an amazing player. I just gave my team what I could to win the ball game no matter if it was on defense or offense.”
The senior from Georgia played in her 150th game in school history to break the all-time record in Starkville. She also secured her 1,117th career rebound which moved her past LaToya Thomas for second in school history behind Teaira McCowan.
A Horned Frog team that has struggled with depth this year due to injuries wouldn’t go away quietly on Sunday. The Bulldogs came out pressing and defending with intensity in the first half and MSU was able to build a 17-13 lead after a quarter and 34-28 advantage at the break.
The third quarter saw the Bulldogs build that lead to 11 points, but a 12-0 run from the Horned Frogs gave TCU the lead briefly in the third quarter. MSU recovered to get
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 19 Mississippi State’s match at 33rd-ranked Florida was a fight to right to the finish.
It took a third-set tiebreaker on the final court to decide a winner in Sunday’s battle between the Bulldogs and Gators. However, Carles Hernandez ultimately came through for MSU and enabled it to capture its second straight ranked SEC road win of the weekend 4-3.
The Bulldogs (13-5, 5-2 SEC) also prevailed by the same score at No. 16 South Carolina on Friday and have won four of its last five conference matches, all against ranked opponents.
“I’m pleased with our team’s resilience and how they worked together this weekend on each court,” MSU head coach Matt Roberts said. “Today, we were down a doubles point and only won three first sets, but they hung in there and put themselves in a winnable position on all courts. That’s what it’s all about.”
Nemanja Malesevic and Michal Novansky won their doubles match 7-5 over Kevin Edengren and Tanapatt Nirundorn but it was the Gators that took the early advantage by claiming the doubles point.
The Bulldogs stole the momentum by earning three straight victories to start singles. Benito Sanchez Martinez beat Henry Jefferson 6-3, 6-2 while No. 39 Petar Jovanovic defeated Aidan Kim in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. Malesevic – ranked 118th in singles – downed No. 66 Jeremy Jin 7-5, 6-2 on court 1 to push Mississippi State’s lead to 3-1.
Malesevic is now tied for the team lead with Jovanovic with four ranked singles wins this season. It was also the 21st ranked win in singles of Malesevic’s career.
The Gators (9-9, 3-5 SEC), however, didn’t go away and took Courts 4 and 6 to knot things at three-all and leaving it in the hands of Hernandez and Nate Bonetto to decide the day’s victor.
Bonetto grabbed the upper hand by winning the opening set 6-3, but Hernandez bounced back by taking the second set 6-2. A third-set tiebreaker was needed, but Hernandez came out on top 7-2 to clinch his second match of the spring and 14th of his career.
The Bulldogs now return to Starkville for a four-match homestand beginning against rival No. 51 Ole Miss on Friday at 5 p.m. and continuing with a Sunday doubleheader against 28th-ranked Alabama and Troy at noon and 4 p.m. respectively.
“We look forward to three home matches at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre on Friday and Sunday,” Roberts said. “We hope to have a big crowd and that we can show our fan base
how hard our guys are fighting right now.”
Softball
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – On the back of four home runs, No. 20 Mississippi State run-ruled No. 17 Arkansas 15-7 in five innings on Sunday afternoon, securing the series for the Bulldogs.
Madisyn Kennedy started the offensive effort with a two-run homer in the first. Sierra Sacco hit her first career home run, a three-run shot, in the second inning to get MSU (24-7, 5-4 SEC) out to a 6-0 lead. The Bulldogs then scored nine runs, all with two outs, in the fourth inning with four extra-base hits in the frame.
“I liked the way we responded,”MSU head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “We tried to be a little bit more confident in our game, trying to be more aggressive, which is something our offense does. We know (Arkansas) is a great hitting team, and they were going to score no matter what the score was. It was just kind of staying within ourselves and doing what we do in our normal approach. I thought we did a really good job of answering back, especially early on.”
Ella Wesolowski had the biggest swing in the fourth, launching her first career grand slam for the Bulldogs. Two batters later Salen Hawkins hit her second homer of the year. Sacco and Nadia Barbary each added another run with an RBI double.