Mississippi State had its chance to prove its worth to the NCAA Tournament Committee. It was widely thought that all the Lady Dawgs had to do was win one game in the SEC Tournament to be a lock to make the field of 64.
However, after blowing an 11 point halftime lead and losing to Arkansas 80-73 in the SEC Tournament first round, the Lady Dawgs (17-11) must now cross their fingers, pray and wait to see if they’ve accomplished enough over the long, tumultuous season to earn an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
The NCAA Tournament field will be announced next Sunday, and the Lady Dawgs will be sweating it out until then.
“This is not the way we wanted to finish up here. But now, we have to sit back and see,” MSU coach Sharon Fanning said. “I know the committee is looking at six or seven teams from the SEC. We’ve been one of those teams. I’m hoping what we’ve done to this point over the season is enough to get us in.”
The Lady Razorbacks (16-12) trailed by 11 points after a Tan White’s jumper with 14:50 remaining.
What happened next could only be described as a tumultuous change of events.
Arkansas took off on a 16-4 run to move in front, 59-58 with 9:47 remaining.
“We got off to a really slow start,” Arkansas head coach Susie Gardner said. “I was feeling some heartache in the first half. We’ve been down a few times before this year, but these guys fight to the end. That’s why I’m so proud of them.”
White, the SEC’s leading scorer and unanimous all-SEC first team selection, hit 13 of 28 shots from the field and nine of 10 foul shots. She also added eight rebounds and three assists to her night.
For a long time, it looked like White would carry Mississippi State single-handedly into the next round.
State was up 23-19 in the first half when White began to dominate play, scoring 17 of her team’s next 21 points for a 44-29 lead.
Arkansas opened the second half with an 8-0 run to cut things to 46-43. Then White was at it again, scoring eight of Mississippi State’s next 10 points before Arkansas’ damaging run.
The Lady Bulldogs would get no closer than three points the rest of the way.
“We had the momentum early and everything was going our way,” White said. “In the second half, things just weren’t the same.”