Bulldog women's hoops wrap up month-long road trip with Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday
It’s been exactly one month since Mississippi State last played a game inside Humphrey Coliseum, but the women’s basketball team is getting better away from it.
The Bulldogs are wrapping up an eight-game road trip as coach Sam Purcell set out to challenge his team before SEC play. More importantly, the third-year coach wanted his group of new faces to get a chance to enjoy some trips and grow as a team.
“One of the big things that we’re about are experiences. I can’t thank our administration enough for the awesome trips we’ve gone on,” Purcell said. “I’ve been in this business for 20 years and I’ve never taken our kids to Disney World. To be able to go play at the ESPN Zone and the Cayman Islands was an experience we’ll never forget. This one is kind of the same thing.”
East Coast Bulldogs have a chance to get closer to home this week
Over the course of the last month, the Bulldogs have been putting in the flyer miles. State traveled to Orlando to play Jacksonville in the WBCA Showcase, they got two big wins over Utah and South Florida at the Cayman Islands Classic and played another neutral site contest against a tough Belmont team in Tupelo.
Four of the last five games will have been played as true road games. State lost its first and only game to this point 78-75 against undefeated No. 17 Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs won by 60 on the road against former assistant Corry Irvin and Chicago State and slipped by Louisiana Monroe on Tuesday night.
Next up is a rare matchup against Maryland Eastern Shore on Friday at 11 a.m. (ESPN+). The biggest goal for Purcell scheduling this matchup was to allow players a chance to play close to home. Maryland natives Kayla Thomas and Eniya Russell as well as Destiney McPhaul (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Quanirah Montague (Atlantic City, N.J.) all get a chance to play closer to home and have family in attendance.
“I’ve got players who aren’t from Mississippi so I really try to do a good job if the schedule allows us to take them back to areas where their families can go see them,” Purcell said. “This is a return trip for us in the Christmas Holidays to get Destiney, Nir, Kayla and kids that are in that area to get closer to home.”
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A player that will be far from home is Jerkaila Jordan, but she’s playing well no matter what state she’s in at this point.
The New Orleans native started the season slow with three single digit performances in the first seven games. In the last five, however, Jordan has scored over 20 points in every contest and has a double-double in that time frame as well.
Jordan is averaging 15.7 points in her final year at State with 7.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. She has been a catalyst to State’s 11-1 start.
“Jerk is what you want out of any kid. Too many players today value their effort on made shots. Even though Jerk statistically wasn’t making shots, she was giving phenomenal effort,” Purcell said. “Her assist/turnover ratio is as good as its ever been in her college career. For her to do all of those other things, I knew it was just a matter of time for the ball to go in and now you have to pick your poison.”
