STARKVILLE — Sunday’s meeting between two of the Southeastern Conference’s prized fighters went ten rounds and then some.
With a dizzying array of offensive assassination, Kentucky’s reigning conference player of the year Rhyne Howard and Mississippi State sophomore forward Rickea Jackson shredded their respective opponents’ defenses to the tune of 43 combined second half and overtime points as Kentucky slipped out of Humphrey Coliseum with an 92-86 overtime win.
“They were a well-oiled machine in that fourth quarter and they knew where they wanted to get this ball and who they wanted to get this ball,” Mississippi State head coach Nikki McCray-Penson said. “We’re not there yet.”
In a rematch of last season’s SEC Tournament semifinal, MSU lacked the offensive flow and general cohesion that helped it throttle the Wildcats by 18 points in Greenville, South Carolina last spring. Instead, the Bulldogs mustered another sluggish start in an increasingly long list of dismal first quarter shooting performances this season. MSU hit just one of its first six shots and finished the first half 13 of 37 (35.1 percent) from floor.
Junior forward Jessika Carter, who finished with her fourth double-double of the season after a revived second half, again endured long stretches of deafening silence when matched up against Kentucky forward Dre’una Edwards. From her opening shot of the contest — a missed put back off a wayward Sidney Cooks 3-pointer — Carter settled for step back jumpers and lacked the general touch around the rim that helped her average 16.7 points per game heading into Sunday as she finished a meager 1-of-7 from the field in the first half.
But Sunday was about Howard and Jackson.
Succumbing to the body blows of early foul trouble and the length of MSU’s wing defenders — most notably, junior guard Xaria Wiggins, who returned to the lineup after dealing with a blood clot in her right lung — Howard’s arrival in the Ali-Frazier-esque meeting took three quarters to coagulate.
Arrive she did.
Howard flashed the dominant scoring approach that will make her a first round WNBA draft pick when the time comes, scoring 29 of her 33 points over the final two quarters and overtime, including 10 in the extra period.
“She showed today why she’s the best player in the country,” Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy said. “And she can take over at any time.”
While Howard shined, Jackson shone nearly as bright in her first primetime test of the year.
Coming out of the halftime break, Jackson took over an otherwise stagnant MSU offense. She sliced and diced whichever combination of defenders the Wildcats threw at her. Jackson got to her spots, hit her shots and helped the Bulldogs fight off run after run from Howard and her supporting cast.
Jackson concluded Sunday’s contest with a team-high 23 points and garnered MSU’s clearest look at a win when she muscled her way toward the rim in the closing seconds of regulation, only to see her ill-fated attempt clank off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
“I didn’t execute,” Jackson said through a somber, hushed tone.
For MSU, Sunday’s loss was a reminder of a season past. A year ago, then-head coach Vic Schaefer maligned his team week after week for immaturity and an inability to play sound, fundamental basketball for 60 minutes. In so many words, McCray-Penson echoed those sentiments in the depths of Humphrey Coliseum postgame.
“We’re good enough,” she said. “We’ve just got to grow up.”
In a perfect world, the Bulldogs were to ease their way into conference play Sunday against Vanderbilt, followed by contests against a below-average slate of Florida, Ole Miss and Alabama. A meeting with the Wildcats would’ve endured in late January.
But with COVID-19-related issues at Vanderbilt forcing a postponement, the conference bumped MSU’s game against the Wildcats to Sunday, setting up a young Bulldogs squad with their stiffest test of the McCray-Penson era.
In a game in which MSU’s brightest star was ever-so slightly outdone by as proven a commodity as there is in women’s college basketball, the Bulldogs had their chances at victory. But until the maturity and completeness Schaefer preached and McCray-Penson continues to call for in varying forms arrives, nights like Jackson’s Sunday won’t be enough in upcoming SEC slugfests.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.