The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs will be kicking off the 2006-2007 season Friday when they face the Troy Trojans at 7 p.m. at the Humphrey Coliseum.
The Lady Bulldogs are coming off a 6-22 campaign where they used 11 different starting lineups with a young and inexperienced team.
“It was definitely not what Mississippi State is about and not what the Lady Bulldogs have done, but it surely is behind us,” head coach Sharon Fanning said of last season.
Those young players from last year have had a year to work together preparing them to be competitive in the SEC.
“We were a younger team last year, but that is no excuse,” junior guard Miayorka Johnson said. “We had a lot of experience from last year, and we can carry that experience over to this season.”
The Lady Bulldogs return 70 percent of their scoring, but Natasha Henderson is the only senior returning on the squad.
Fanning expects Henderson to be a leader on this team, citing a boost in her offensive and defensive presence.
“She understands what it takes to win at this level and is going to put forth that effort,” Fanning said.
Other leaders of the Lady Bulldog team will include Robin Porter, who started all 28 games last season and averaged 10.6 points a game, and guards Heather Hollis, Marneisha Richard and Bethany Workman.
“Mississippi State was a prime place to make a difference. We decided if we had a good recruiting class, we could make a big difference,” freshman forward Tysheka Grimes said.
Freshman guard Alexis Rack, from Franklin, La., also said she came to State to play for an SEC school.
A familiar name to the Starkville area, junior forward Imesia Jackson is from just down the road in Crawford.
“I have a really good work ethic. I work really hard in everything I do,” Jackson said.
Jackson also added that a deciding factor of her commitment to State was her familiarity with the Starkville community and the MSU program.
State will play a tough schedule this season with visits from Florida State, UAB, Louisiana Tech and LSU. State will also play away games at Purdue, Arkansas and perennial national-power Tennessee.
The Lady Bulldogs also face a potential match-up with Georgia Tech during the Georgia Tech Holiday Tournament.
“We have developed quite a tradition at home, and we want to continue that this season,” Fanning said.