Turnovers culprit in another State loss as Bulldogs fall 71-63 to Rebels

From the very beginning of the season, Mississippi State women’s basketball has had a major turnover problem.

The Bulldogs have struggled to take care of the basketball routinely and had its worst showing of the year at the most inopportune time on Sunday. 23 turnovers became 26 Ole Miss points as State dropped the rivalry matchup with the Rebels in 71-63 fashion.

It was especially frustrating considering how the game ended. Tied at 61 in the final 4 minutes, State turned the ball over five times and the Rebels capitalized as they finished the game outscoring the Bulldogs 10-2 for the win.

“Obviously, our kids wanted it. We knew how important this game not only in the standings, but for this state,” coach Sam Purcell said. “There was a point where we knew we had the game and we didn’t get scores late. We got unraveled and it was uncharacteristic behavior from us. The last five minutes, we just didn’t finish.”

Eniya Russell had seven of the turnovers for the Bulldogs with four more coming from Madina Okot as State played loosely with the ball. It played right into the hands of what the Rebels do best as they got out and ran instead of being stuck in halfcourt ruts.

Ole Miss shot 46% from the game but got most of its points in the paint. The Rebels were held to 2-13 shooting from long range and had 42 points in the paint as Madison Scott controlled things all game long.

The fifth-year senior finished with 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting while Starr Jacobs scored 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Freshman Sira Thienou finished with 10 points and nearly had a double-double with nine steals in the game.

“(Thienou) is a great player and very versatile. I wouldn’t say it was just (Thienou), a lot of them gave us problems – especially Madison Scott,” Russell said. “It’s the lack of defensive focus on our part.”

State grabs some second-half momentum but can’t hold it

It was a back-and-forth affair most of the way as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 10-point lead early. Like the previous two home games against South Carolina and Oklahoma, however,  the Bulldogs couldn’t hold that advantage.

Ole Miss cut the lead to 20-19 after a quarter and would get some momentum in the second when they outscored the Bulldogs 15-9 to lead 34-29 at the break. Ole Miss pushed that lead to as much as seven in the third quarter before State began to fight back.

The Bulldogs would end up outscoring the Rebels 22-19 in the third quarter and it was a 53-51 advantage for Ole Miss after three. State got the lead in the fourth quarter but couldn’t keep it as the Rebels closed strong down the stretch.

“They did a great job denying our point guard and got us out of the sets,” Purcell said of the final five minutes. “You could feel the energy in the building where our kids wanted it and then we went home run ball. You’ve got to tip your hats to Ole Miss.”

For State (15-5, 2-4 SEC), the turnovers were the difference in the game. State forced 14 turnovers but scored just 10 points off of those compared to the 26 scored by the Rebels. MSU shot 47% from the field and made 6-of-16 3-pointers and 7-of-9 makes from the line. The Bulldogs also outrebounded Ole Miss 35-29.

Ole Miss had 18 assists in the game on 29 made shots while the Bulldogs had just eight on 25 made shots. The Rebels also had 16 steals to State’s eight.

Leading the way for the Bulldogs was Jerkaila Jordan as she finished with 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting. Russell had 15 points on 6-of-9 and 2-of-3 3-point makes. She had five rebounds as well. Okot had 12 rebounds and eight points but finished with just two points and two rebounds in the second half.

The loss made the Bulldogs 1-4 the last three seasons against Ole Miss. State had gone 15-1 in the previous 16 games prior to that.

Up Next

State is in the hole with four losses in the first six games after playing four ranked opponents and another one in Ole Miss that could enter the top 25 this week. The schedule cools off slightly this week as the Bulldogs host Auburn (10-9, 1-5 SEC) on Thursday (6:30 p.m. SEC Network +) and travels to Missouri (11-10, 0-6 SEC) next Monday.

“We’ve got to have hard conversations and talk about it. This is back-to-back games we’ve won the third quarter so there’s a lot of heart in that locker room,” Purcell said. “This league is a beast and every game is a challenge we’ve got to learn from. The mission doesn’t change. We’ve got to come to practice, own it and learn from what we’re doing wrong.”