The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs basketball team will try to rebound Sunday from last Sunday’s loss, facing the Georgia Lady Bulldogs on the road.
Mississippi State is 3-3 in the conference after being upset at home by Arkansas Sunday by a score of 65-62. In SEC play, MSU is 2-1 on the road and has won two straight.
Junior forward Chanel Mokango, who averages 11.4 points per game and is third in the nation with 3.6 blocks per game, came close to those marks Sunday, but she said she still felt like she let the team down with some missed shots.
Head coach Sharon Fanning said Mokango needs to understand the SEC’s level of play.
“She has to understand that intensity, and I don’t think that she was mentally ready to go. She would shy off a little from her shot, then she would finally hit one,” Fanning said. “You could tell she wasn’t herself. You can’t worry about getting hit again.”
The Lady Bulldogs are 7-2 in games away from home this season. Impressive road wins have come at LSU, who is coming off five consecutive Final Four appearances, and at Kentucky, Utah and Southern Miss.
Georgia head coach Andy Landers, who has coached the Lady Bulldogs since 1979, sees the matchup with Mississippi State as a tough challenge.
“Mississippi State is a much improved team, and they are extremely athletic,” Landers said. “They’ve added a great deal of athleticism and quickness and jumping and running ability, so we really look forward to playing them and the challenges they represent because they are certainly a quick basketball team.”
Heading into last night’s game at Auburn, Georgia was 13-7 (3-2 SEC), and their RPI was 77th. Their most impressive win was a 66-55 home win over Vanderbilt (RPI 58). Their schedule has included difficult games against Georgia Tech, Rutgers and Virginia, but they lost to all of them. They also suffered a very bad loss to Detroit Mercy (RPI 232) in November.
Georgia’s leading scorer is junior guard Ashley Houts, who is averaging 12.4 points per game, and sophomore forward Porsha Phillips averages 10.2 points per game. Phillips was a key factor in Georgia’s win at Alabama last Sunday, scoring 21 points, blocking two shots, and pulling down eight rebounds. She also added 15 points in the previous game against Vanderbilt.
Junior forward Angel Robinson averages 10.6 points per game and is leading the SEC in rebounds with nine per game. As a team, Georgia has outrebounded opponents 41.9-34.4. This fact may not bode well for State, as Fanning has pointed to rebounds as a factor in each of her team’s losses.
The game will begin at 1:30 p.m. CST at Stegeman Coliseum at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga.
Mississippi State is 10-22 all-time against Georgia, and 3-10 against the Lady Bulldogs in Athens. The most recent meeting was a 60-56 Georgia win last season in Starkville.