On Sunday, the Mississippi State women’s basketball team fought hard to honor those who have fought the battle of breast cancer.
Fans came wearing pink, the lady Bulldogs playing in pink-lined uniforms and members of Zeta Tau Alpha fraternity gave out pins. The game was sponsored by Baptist Memorial Health Care, and information about the cause was provided on the Jumbotron. Women who fought the illness stood from their seats and were honored for the annual “Think Pink” game.
Head Coach Sam Purcell discussed what this game meant to the team after the game.
“Just a lot of emotions, right?” Purcell said. “A great time just for fight, and that’s what I told them is a day where you’re honoring so many great stories for multiple people.”
Mississippi State lead 44-43 after the first half; the score never wavered past a 10-point difference the entire game. A buzzer-beater ended the half, erupting the crowd.
Members of female sports teams from MSU were honored for National Girls and Women in Sports Day during halftime. The players stood on the court as their sport was announced, and the crowd cheered on these hard-working women.
Purcell spoke about how the crowd is important for honoring women who fight for their health and for their sport.
“I can’t thank the crowd enough,” Purcell said. “I thought we almost had an entire sold-out bottom bowl. They were electric, and I told them the biggest way that we can show love for them is to fight.”
Although the game ended in a loss, a couple of the players earned personal wins.
Freshman forward Madison Francis put herself tenth in program history for blocks in a single season during the game. She is one of two freshmen to have a place on the top 10 leaderboard.
Junior forward Favour Nwaezodi banked her tenth double-double of the season totaling 11 points and 14 rebounds.
“I thought my kids fought. I thought they played hard, but we just didn’t play hard on the defensive end,” Purcell said. “That’s a tough pill to swallow.”
The defense declined as the game progressed. Earlier in the post-game press conference, Purcell expressed his thoughts about how the defense played. In the end, Missouri took the victory 88-80, but Mississippi State fought to the finish line.
“You can’t give up 88 points,” Purcell said. “It’s not like we sat there and played one defense. We went third under-ball screens, we switched ball screens, went second a plug, we fronted the post, we scrambled, we were trying to double. You name it, we did it.”
It is clear that Purcell tried to rotate the team to match Mizzou offense. However, they lacked what they needed to take the victory.
“Bottom line is, it just wasn’t good enough,” Purcell said.
With the loss as the outcome, Purcell was still appreciative of the cause that the game brought awareness too. Win or lose, there was still victory for the breast cancer survivors who were at the game honored for overcoming their battles with the illness.
“I appreciate marketing, administration and all the people that made today a special day,” Purcell said. “So thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
The Lady Bulldogs will head to Columbia, South Carolina, to take on the Gamecocks. The game can be watched on SEC Network or ESPN+ as they tip off at 5:30 p.m CST.
