Mississippi State didn’t have a solution for the problem that lied in Georgia’s Tasha Humphrey. She was like a nat that kept on biting no matter how many times you swatted it away.
The 6-foot-3 forward found herself facing a wall consisting of three Bulldog defenders, who were hovering inches in front of her face, blocking her view of the goal that stood 10 feet away. She didn’t pass the ball. She didn’t turn it over. She quietly took a short step back and launched a fade away jumper that gave UGA their largest lead of the game at nine with 3:30 remaining in the contest.
“She’s a great player. We knew that coming in,” Mississippi State head coach Sharon Fanning said about Humphrey. “She’s hard to guard one on one. We tried to double (team) her, but you could see she can fade away with some shots.”
No. 21 Georgia would go on to make six of seven free throws in the final 1:16 to topple Mississippi State 67-57, ending the Bulldogs 10 game home winning streak and giving them a glimpse of what is yet to come in the Southeastern Conference.
“The first half you saw what it’s going to take to win an SEC championship,” Fanning said.
Mississippi State fell to 14-4 (3-2 SEC) with the loss while Georgia jumped to 15-4 (3-3 SEC) with their first SEC road win of the year.
The force that is Tasha Humphrey led the game with 12 rebounds and 24 points. She was a ridiculous 10 of 11 from the field and hit three of four shots from the charity line. All of this accomplished playing only 28 minutes.
Humphrey, who came into the game averaging 18 points, was benched with just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half after she picked up her second foul. She didn’t step back onto the court until the opening of the second half, in which she played in its entirety.
“I thought where she was really good today was in the paint on the defensive end,” UGA head coach Andy Landers said. “She rebounded the ball. She affected drives and affected some shots, but she’s really not a shot blocker. It was just her presence.”
The Bulldogs played substantial minutes without two of their starters. Mamie McKinney sprained her ankle five minutes into the game, and Doceide Warren suffered a mild concussion after she hit the hardwood floor midway through the second half.
“In the second half, Mamie tried to come back in, but her ankle did not let her,” Fanning said of her starting forward that averages six points and six rebounds a game.
Georgia led 19-14 when Humphrey picked up that critical second foul that sent her to the bench. Thirteen of the Bulldogs 19 points belonged to the unstoppable freshman.
“Getting her on the bench in the first half was big,” Fanning said. “We we’re trying to take the ball at her.”
During that Humphrey-free 12 minutes, State outscored Georgia 17-6, holding them to zero points in the last 5:20 of the half. The Lady Bulldogs from Athens scored two points in the latter 10 minutes of the opening half, after scoring 23 points in the first 10.
“We had some decent shots after (Humphrey) left the floor. We didn’t hit them,” Landers said. “(Mississippi State) became the aggressors the last six or seven minutes of that first half.”
State forward Rebecca Kates, who scored 15 points, going five of seven from the field, hit back to back three-point baskets with four minutes left until the break to give State a 26-25 lead. It was the first lead for the Bulldogs since their 5-4 advantage only a minute and a half into the game.
After being down eight points early in the game, Mississippi State took momentum and a 31-25 lead into the locker room in the wake of the absence of Humphrey.
But her return in the second half lit a fire under the red and black. Georgia ripped off a 24-11 run to take a demanding 49-42 lead with 7:20 to go in the game.
“We started the game with that type of flow offensively,” Landers said. After trailing 5-4 early, Georgia went on an impressive 11-0 run to lead 13-5 early in the contest. “Obviously it hurts us when Humphrey isn’t in the game. We had three field goals in that 12 minutes (without Humphrey).”
Tan White, who had only five first half points, but rebounded with a 17-point second half, hit a jumper with 4:50 left that pulled State to within five points. Shortly after, Tasha Humphrey hit the unrealistic fade away that iced the game.
Georgia, who came in ranked ninth in the nation in free throw percentage, made 11 of 13 or 84 percent Sunday afternoon.
“We’ve been solid there all year,” Landers said.
Sherril Baker came off the bench for Georgia and hit six of eight shots from the field, scored 14 points and had four assists.
Tiana Burns went five for 11 from the field and scored 11 points for Mississippi State, who shot a cold 31 percent in the second half compared to Georgia’s hot 57 percent shooting.
“There was just a lot of pressure-defense that second half,” Rebecca Kates said. “They picked up their defense the second half.”
State was at an enormous disadvantage before the game even began. UGA started two 6-foot-3’s and a 6-footer while the Bulldogs had no one over the 6-foot mark and three girls at 5-foot-8 or under. UGA’s average height was exactly 6-feet compared to Mississippi State’s, which was 5-foot-8.
The Bulldogs struggled in the rebounding department. UGA out-rebounded State 42-30, but more importantly the visiting Bulldogs had 15 second-chance points to State’s six.
“We will regroup and we will get ready,”an optimistic Fanning said. “We have two huge ball games coming up on the road. And that’s where we need to make a stand.”