Mississippi State’s Lady Bulldogs will travel to Knoxville, Tenn. on Sunday for a rematch with the Tennessee Lady Volunteers. The Lady Vols visited Starkville on Feb. 7 and left with an 87-69 win.Despite the one-sided final score, Mississippi State led that game by as much as nine and by seven at halftime. That marked the first time Tennessee had trailed at the half this year.
Lady Bulldogs head coach Sharon Fanning is focusing on the first half of that game in looking forward to Saturday’s rematch.
“We have to play for 40 minutes like we played the first half. That was great team effort,” Fanning said. “We got to the free throw line, and we rebounded the ball. We guarded them hard and blocked out better. The second half we didn’t play as hard. They picked up like you expect a great team to pick up, and they are a great basketball team.”
State’s scoring was led in that game by a career-best scoring performance by sophomore Alexis Rack, who scored 32 points off the bench. Rack is tied with Tysheka Grimes for the team lead in scoring this season with 11.6 points per game.
Tennessee junior Candace Parker leads the conference in scoring, averaging 20.6 points per game. Parker is also in the top five in the SEC in rebounding, steals, blocked shots and field goal percentage. The other four starters each average around ten points per game as well to make up a balanced offense.
As a team, Tennessee leads the conference in scoring, blocked shots and steals.
Tennessee is currently second in the conference with one conference loss, coming last week at conference-leading LSU. Their only other loss on the season came at Stanford in overtime.
The Lady Vols prove to be a formidable opponent anywhere, but defeating them becomes even harder when they play at home. Tennessee easily leads the conference in attendance, averaging over 15,000 fans per home contest. Tennessee has only lost at home twice in one season once since Thompson-Boling Arena was built in 1987.
Fanning said she applauds the atmosphere of Thompson-Boling Arena.
“It’s what you want for women’s basketball. Hopefully we can adjust to that atmosphere and play our best basketball,” Fanning said. “What you have to do when you go into a great arena is be a part of that excitement. We have to keep the focus on our on team.”
Fanning said she expects her team to play as hard as they played Tennessee in Starkville.
“You have to have 100% energy to beat Tennessee no matter where you play them,” she said. “It’s going take team basketball and take all of the focus and the fundamentals for 40 minutes.”
Tip-off between the Lady Bulldogs and the Lady Vols is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and will be televised on FSN South.