The Mississippi State University women’s basketball team dropped their second consecutive road game against the University of Georgia 62-34 in Athens, Georgia Sunday afternoon.
Offensive woes and turnovers made for a difficult afternoon for the MSU women’s basketball team Sunday in Athens. MSU could not find an answer to Georgia’s offensive attack, as UGA made the game’s first basket and never gave up the lead.
The Bulldogs shot just 26.7% from the field and went 2 of 15 from behind the three-point line. MSU turned the ball over 27 times in the contest leading to 24 points for UGA.
No Bulldogs were able to score in double figures Sunday. Guard Ahlana Smith led MSU in scoring with nine points and three rebounds and guard JerKaila Jordan had a notable effort with eight rebounds, four assists and four steals in the game.
From the start of the first quarter, Mississippi State struggled to find any rhythm. Georgia scored 21 points in the first quarter and held MSU to just five. MSU’s offense continued to struggle in the second quarter, and the Bulldogs went into halftime trailing UGA by a score of 16-31.
Throughout Sunday’s game, the Bulldogs were plagued by turnovers. Mississippi State had 15 turnovers in the first half alone.
Head coach Sam Purcell said that MSU’s turnovers really hurt the team in their loss against UGA.
“This was pretty simple,” Purcell said, “we didn’t play [well]. Anytime you turnover the ball 27 times, you just give too much to the opposing team on the road.”
In the third quarter, MSU’s defense woes continues as they struggled to contain Georgia’s offense. UGA outscored MSU 21-11 in the quarter and going into the fourth quarter, MSU trailed 27-52.
There was not much scoring in the fourth quarter as MSU was outscored 7-10 by UGA and dropped another tough road test by a final score of 62-34.
The loss drops MSU’s record to 15-7 overall and 4-5 in SEC play. The Bulldogs will get a much-needed week of rest before they host the University of Tennessee on February 6.
After the loss, coach Purcell said that the Bulldogs will make the most of their practice time this coming week.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t strong with it,” Purcell said, “but here’s the best part, we have an off week this week, and our practices are going to be intense, and they are going to be turned up because, obviously, this is not acceptable.”