The Lady Bulldogs’ season began to look up on Thursday as they notched their first conference win against Ole Miss, but a tough loss to Arkansas on Sunday left them going back to the drawing board.Two back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Tysheka Grimes late in the second half helped seal the win for the Lady Bulldogs.
“Tysheka’s two 3-pointers back-to-back really helped us,” junior Marneshia Richard said. “Ole Miss was creeping up on us, so we really needed it.”
The Lady Bulldogs (13-7, 1-4 Southeastern Conference) put up strong defensive efforts throughout the first half of play, putting the Lady Rebels at 16-percent shooting from the field. Mississippi State scored the first four points of the game, putting the team at a 10-2 lead through the opening 5:30.
Richard was playing with a protective mask due to a broken nose, and she led Mississippi State with eight points during the opening half.
“Marneshia is making adjustments and learning how to play with the mask on,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Sharon Fanning said. “We are just really happy that she’s back in rotation.”
Junior forward Robin Porter and sophomore guard Alexis Rack each added six points to help Mississippi State in the first half.
The Lady Rebels were led by senior forward Carla Bartee, who scored six points to go with her 11 rebounds in the first half of play.
The Lady Rebels outscored the Lady Bulldogs 18-9 to open the second half, causing Mississippi State to drop its 10-point halftime margin to just one. The Lady Bulldogs battled back to take a 45-38 lead off of Grimes’ back-to-back baskets. The Lady Bulldogs’ defense held strong, holding Ole Miss to 26.3-percent shooting in the 57-52 win.
Richard scored 14 points in 39 minutes of action, leading the way for the Lady Bulldogs. With her four assists that night, Richard moved into 10th place on the all-time Mississippi State assist list with 271.
Porter and Rack also scored in double figures as each of them added 11 points for the Lady Bulldogs, while senior forward Imesia Jackson led the team with seven rebounds.
“We kept going, going and going,” Jackson said. “We had to have this game. We needed it to know we were competitive. We needed a boost.”
This win improved Fanning’s career record to 22-14 over Mississippi, including 15 wins over the Lady Rebels during her tenure in Starkville.
Ole Miss head coach Renee Ladner said defense was a key to the Lady Bulldogs’ win.
“You have to give Mississippi State a lot of credit. We were a little tight, and sometimes you just can’t get the ball in,” she said. “That’s why you bark defense and rebounding. We had some inconsistency, and Coach Fanning plays very good defense.”
Fanning said the win was a hard-fought one over a talented Lady Rebels’ team.
“Ole Miss has good balance, and they penetrate well,” Fanning said. “We communicated well and found a way to win, and it was a team win.”
Winning ways did not continue when the Lady Bulldogs hit the road as they fell to the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks on Sunday by a score of 56-42.
The Lady Bulldogs had a hard time overcoming 16 turnovers, as they watched their early 12-point lead vanish. At the beginning of the game, neither team could make a basket during the first three minutes. Sophomore Tysheka Grimes made the first shot of the game with 17:11 left in the first half of play, starting a 10-0 run for the Lady Bulldogs over the first eight minutes of the game. Arkansas did not make its first basket until there was 8:45 left in the first half of play, and the Lady Bulldogs led 13-1 early on.
Mississippi State had 10 turnovers and was held to 38 percent shooting in the first half, which allowed Arkansas to make a comeback. After missing their first 15 shots of the half, Arkansas hit 9-for-11 the rest of the way, going into halftime with the lead of 29-23.
To start the second half, the Lady Razorbacks held the Lady Bulldogs scoreless during the first four minutes, and State could not overcome 28 percent shooting for the game, only coming as close as nine points to Arkansas, who held the lead through the second half.
“I don’t know what it looked like from the stands, but I know we didn’t look like a 17-4 team today,” Arkansas head coach Tom Collen said. “I thought that we did look like a team that doesn’t want to quit. We certainly could have quit when we were 0-15 from the floor but didn’t.”
Jackson fell only two points away from recording a double-double, scoring eight points while pulling 10 rebounds. Arkansas had four players to score in double figures. Avana Brereton posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Brittany Vaughn led Arkansas in scoring with 14 points in the game. Arkansas’ win makes this the fourth time in the last five meetings that the home team has won.
“You must give credit to Arkansas. They kept scratching,” Fanning said. “They are a scrappy team with athleticism. The difference today was rebounding and the free throw line. They outplayed us and had better balance. Our team chemistry was not there.