Mississippi
Any time Ole Miss comes to town, it’s a big deal. Regardless of what sport, it’s always a battle both sides seemingly must win. Thursday was no different, as the Lady Rebels looked to down MSU on their home court.
Having lost six straight games and losing the last two decisions to their archrival, MSU took control early and never looked back in a 61-52 victory.
State opened the game with the first basket at the 18:01 mark off of a steal and lay-up by senior guard Tiania Burns.
This seemed to be a recurring theme, as junior guard Doceide Warren would match her fellow teammate’s efforts at the 16:17 mark.
Ole Miss would try to battle back, but would be denied as MSU went on an 11-0 scoring run less than midway through the first half.
The run was started on a jumper by junior forward Blessing Chekwa at 14:09 and was culminated with a 3-pointer by senior guard Tan White at 9:43.
The Lady Dawgs soared though the rest of the first half and took an insurmountable 18 point lead in at intermission.
“It’s not a good idea to get down by 20 after the first half and try and make it up in the next 20 minutes,” Ole Miss coach Carol Ross said.
Statistically things looked up for the Lady Rebels in the second half. After ending the first half being outscored 16-4 off turnovers, UM picked up their defensive intensity and wound up outscoring MSU 22-18 off of turnovers for the game.
While their defense proved to be monstrous in the second half, UM’s offense would remain stagnant. They finished the game only shooting 31.9 percent from the floor.
Ole Miss hacked away at the MSU lead through the latter part of second period.
UM sophomore guard Armintie Price’s jumper at 4:53 pulled the Lady Rebels to within 14 points. Over a three-minute time frame, the Lady Rebels went on a 7-0 run to cut the Lady Dawgs’ lead to nine.
Key free throws from Burns and junior forward Mamie McKinney allowed MSU to hold off the Lady Rebels.
“This was huge win for us, and hopefully something that we’re going to carry over,” MSU head coach Sharon Fanning said.
Kentucky
The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs (16-9, 5-7 SEC) won their first SEC road trip since Jan. 6 by defeating the Kentucky Wildcats (14-13, 3-9 SEC) 71-55 in a Sunday afternoon tip-off in Lexington, Ky.
Senior guard Tan White was an efficient 10-of-19 from the field to lead the Bulldogs in scoring with 23 points.
Fellow senior forward Rebecca Kates was 5-of-5 from the field, contributing 13 points with nine of those coming from three three-pointers she hit.
After a defensive efforts kept both team scoreless for a while, Kates put MSU up 5-0 on a trey at the 18:28 mark.
Kentucky would not be denied though as they fought back with a 6-0 run to jump out ahead by one with 14:53 remaining in the period.
Defense set the tone early as the Wildcats went up 10-7 before junior forward Mamie McKinney tied the game after converting a three-point play following a steal.
In the last six minutes of the period, the lead changed four times. After a lot of defensive struggles, MSU held on to take a 27-23 halftime lead.
“With about three minutes to go in the first half we picked up the intensity. We were much more aggressive,” MSU head coach Sharon Fanning said.
MSU opened the second period on fire and seemed to be unstoppable, holding on to a 10-point lead before UK trimmed it to just seven midway through the second half.
The Lady Bulldogs would not give up the lead easily as they rebounded with two critical three-pointers from Kates to give MSU a 61-45 advantage with 4:59 left to play.
State would seal the deal as they would convert on key baskets by McKinney and White down the stretch to give MSU the victory.
“The biggest thing was poise down the stretch. We played hard and smart. We took care of the ball better in the second half and forced more turnovers on their end,” Fanning said.