SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Two days ago, Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Sam Purcell picked up his first NCAA tournament win as a head coach. On Friday, he picked up his first March Madness upset.
After advancing out of the First Four through the post, the 11-seeded Bulldogs shot their way into the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament after knocking off six-seed Creighton, 81-66, at Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion.
MSU (22-10) connected on 11 of its 19 three-point attempts, its most since Feb. 23 against Arkansas, creating a sizable first-half lead and holding off the Bluejays (22-9) in the second half.
The Bulldogs advance to Sunday’s second round game against three-seed Notre Dame, who dominated 14-seed Southern Utah, 82-56, to advance earlier in the day.
With Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey sitting courtside watching, the Bulldogs knocked down eight shots from behind the arc in the first half to take a 47-37 halftime lead.
Junior guard JerKaila Jordan led the charge, making all three of her attempts and finishing the first half 5-for-5 from the field with 15 points. She finished with 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting and 4-for-5 from three-point range.
Debreasha Powe also knocked down two to quickly give MSU a 6-0 lead, which grew to 11 on a Asianae Johnson ‘3’ later in the first quarter.
Powe finished with nine points, while Johnson added 10 off the bench. Jessika Carter also chipped in 14 points. Anastasia Hayes (12) and Ahlana Smith (10) finished in double figures for the Bulldogs.
MSU’s lead grew as high as 17 in the first half after four-straight free throws from Ahlana Smith, before a late Bluejays surge got them back within single digits. Jordan then hit her third three-pointer of the half to give the momentum back to the Bulldogs.
In the second half, MSU’s lead reached 20 at 65-45 on another Jordan three-pointer with less than a minute to go in the third, got as high as 23 in the fourth and never dipped below 15.
Creighton, one of college basketball’s top shooting teams, finished 37 percent (25-for-67) from the field and 26 percent (9-for-34) behind the arc. Lauren Jensen led the Bluejays with 22 points.
Sunday’s Round of 32 game time and television assignment has yet to be announced.
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