Mississippi State women's hoops survives Belmont
The Mississippi State women’s basketball team began their road test today with a knock down drag out bout against the Belmont Bruins which the Bulldogs won 63-62.
Darionne Rogers got a put back on an offensive rebound with less than a minute to go before the Bulldogs made one more key stop on the defensive end to secure their fifth win on the season and improve to 5-0.
Jessika Carter led the scoring for Mississippi State with 17 points and poured in eight rebounds on the way to a stellar 44-25 advantage on the glass for the Bulldogs as a team. Erynn Barnum’s nine boards led the rebounding effort, and Rogers was also one of four Bulldogs with a pair of assists on the night, which all tied for a team-high.
Coming into the game, head coach Sam Purcell knew that it was going to be an early test for his team. Afterwards, Purcell was proud of the way his women responded to adversity.
“I told my team one thing,” said Purcell. “‘Do you trust me?’ Because that’s what we’re building with so many new pieces. I told them at the beginning of the fourth quarter, ‘guys, there’s going to be a moment that y’all are going to think I’m crazy, and we’ve got to go ‘two’ and play zone,’ because they were spacing us out…My team had faith in me. They hit a dagger there, but guess what? We were the tough team, we came back and scored and were able to get a big stop there at the end.”
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Purcell also noted how important this test was for his team before facing even more talent in the upcoming invitational tournament this weekend.
“It’s huge. I’m almost speechless,” said Purcell. “Every power five that walks in (Belmont), they know they have a chance to lose, so for us to be the tough team and have a night where shots don’t fall but have an attitude…I’ve got a tough team with some tough individuals.”
The Mississippi State women will take to Houston, Texas, next for the Van Chancellor Classic where they will play three games in three days against Clemson, Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Tulsa. After dropping out of the top 25, the Bulldogs are making a push back towards the rankings with a chance for more solid NET wins ahead. Friday’s game will tip off at 6:30 p.m.
