For a victory
A few days after setting a school record with 18 3-pointers made against Troy, Mississippi State reversed course to win on Friday night against Southern.
The No. 13 Bulldogs attacked the paint against the Jaguars using 62 points inside to win 79-55. A strong second and third quarter push led the way for MSU to move to 4-1 for the season.
“I thought we executed in the second half,” Bulldogs head coach Nikki Mccray-penson said. “We got the ball inside. Clearly there was a mismatch and we wanted to dissect how we wanted to get the ball inside. We had to move the ball from side to side to get (Jessika Carter) some looks or get dribble penetration. I thought Rickea didn’t settle as much in the second half. She was able to get inside the paint a little more and have some aggressive moves at the basket.”
State shot 53% for the night continuing a solid stretch this week of shooting. While last game MSU did it from beyond the arc with those 18 makes from long distance, the work inside did the job on this night. Jessika Carter finished with 17 points as she made 8-of-16 of her shots and had 11 rebounds to get the double-double. Fellow center Yemiyah Morris finished with nine points and six rebounds inside as she was 4-for-5.
Though the team settled in, the Bulldogs weren’t exactly sharp out of the shoot. The Jaguars hung in there in the first quarter thanks to just 16 points from MSU and a bit of an offensive lull. It was 16-13, but the Bulldogs began to find their footing in the second quarter.
“They were very physical with us and I addressed it,” Mccray-penson said. “I thought we settled with some jumpers right there in the paint and we’ve got to be efficient in the paint. I addressed that in the second half and I thought we adjusted.”
As the offense got its flow going, MSU started to push the lead out. The Bulldogs had a 28-point second quarter that led to a healthy 44-27 lead at the halftime break. They had a 15-0 run overall carry over into the third quarter and they were in full control from there.
After giving up over 20 offensive rebounds in each of the last two games, MSU limited Southern on Friday to just nine of those and the Bulldogs out-rebounded the Jaguars 43-32. State and Southern each had 12 turnovers each and MSU had 14 assists. The 40-point differential in the paint was the big story in the game and the Bulldogs also had seven blocks including two by Carter which got her to 100 in her career.
Along with Carter in double figures was Jackson as she followed up her 30-point performance against Troy with 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Aliyah Matharu scored 11 points off the bench and was 5-of-6 from the field. Jamya Mingo-young had just four points but seven rebounds and six assists and Myah Taylor had 10 points and four assists with zero turnovers. Taylor is now at 26 assists and just one turnover for the year as she hasn’t given the ball away for three-straight games.
“I think all of that starts in practice,” Taylor said. “We talk about having no turnovers. I think that me taking care of the ball in practice against our practice guys, I just work on that. It’s always my goal to go in the game and have zero turnovers. It’s something I take with much pride.”
The Bulldogs will be back at home on Sunday when they take on Central Arkansas at 3 p.m. That game can be seen on SEC Network.