Mississippi State warms up the busses early on Education Day
Mississippi State women’s hoops cruised to their fourth win of the season on Wednesday in dominating fashion with an 87-26 win over New Orleans. With 30 local elementary and middle schools in attendance, Jerkaila Jordan led all scorers with 24.
Ms. November
Jordan’s 2023 campaign has been a special one so far, as she’s filled much more than one column of the stat sheet. She kept to that trend on Wednesday and finished with five boards, two assists and five steals. That was good enough for her second 20 point game of the season. Head coach Sam Purcell spoke about her performance postgame.
“I love how she went about the game,” said Purcell. “I think (Jerkaila) is a kid I would view as a role model…I didn’t call many of her numbers. For a lot of kids across the country, to get 24 points, you’re calling their sets.”
Lauren Park-Lane
Lauren Park-Lane looked like the transfer Mississippi State fans were relying on Wednesday. Last game, the Seton Hall transfer came off the bench behind freshman Mjiracle Sheppard. On Wednesday, Park-Lane reentered the starting lineup with a purpose.
She was attacking the defense off the dribble much better than in previous games, and the results spoke for themselves. She finished with 11 points and four assists on the afternoon in her best game thus far in maroon and white. Park-Lane spoke about her teammates’ support in her new venture in Starkville after the game.
“Really, (the) credit goes to my teammates,” said Park-Lane. “We met yesterday, and they know I’ve been struggling with my mentality in my first year being here…so we all had a conversation and they were just telling me they want the Seton Hall L-P here, so I just came out here and tried to channel that.”
Purcell also spoke about Park-Lane’s efforts, and noted that the team is much more dangerous when she’s heading downhill with a purpose.
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“She just makes the home run plays for our team when we need a tough bucket,” said Purcell. “When she’s doing that we’re a lot tougher.”
Education Day
Some fans were curious at an 11 a.m. tip-off, but it was for good reason. Mississippi State women’s basketball celebrated Education Day, where 30 schools from around the state hauled kids in to watch the women play. It took 70 school busses to get everyone in attendance, and Purcell and company were thankful for every one of them.
“It’s bigger than basketball,” said Purcell. “…I try to challenge my young women to be more than just basketball players, so for us, thank you to the administration, thank you to all the facility workers, thank you to all the volunteers, thank you to the students who gave up parking today so that we could have a kids game…because imagine how many kids that showed up today have a parent who can’t get off work or don’t have the money or resources to come to a game, we just might have had an opportunity where you had a young female watching our females and got inspired to play the game of basketball.”
Ramani Parker
On a more somber note, Purcell announced postgame that forward Ramani Parker will be out for the remainder of the season. Parker suffered a knee injury in the game against Southeastern Louisiana. Purcell said that there is no official word on Parker’s exact diagnosis, but she is out for the remainder of the season.
Mississippi State’s next game will be on the road against Belmont, a powerhouse G5 basketball program. That game will tip off Sunday at 2 p.m.
