As Aliyah Matharu went Thursday, so too did Mississippi State.
In a first half that mimicked a familiar tone to losses of months past, Matharu didn’t muster a single point on either of her two field goal attempts in the opening two frames. But as has been the case throughout her young Bulldog career, the Washington, D.C., native caught fire in a split second.
Draining one of her four second-half 3-pointers on the Bulldogs’ first possession of the third quarter, Matharu notched a game-high 19 points, all of which came in the final 20 minutes, to give MSU a gutsy 68-59 win over NCAA bubble resident LSU in Baton Rouge.
“We started off the third quarter, I got my first shot, and I just knocked it down from there,” she said postgame. “I was like, ‘OK. I’m in rhythm now, I can do this.”
For Matharu, there’s always been an ease to her offensive ability. One of just a handful of Bulldogs that can consistently create her own shot, she’s quick, twitchy and deadly when she gets rolling. But as was the case under Vic Schaefer a season ago, head coach Nikki McCray-Penson has challenged her to improve her defense, while also finding a patient balance to her offensive flow.
“I’m always telling her, ‘When you have two people in front of you, now you’ve got to learn how to set people up and pass the ball out,'” McCray-Penson explained. “Because the scouting report sometimes on her is, let her go, she’s not going to pass the ball. And I challenge her and I show her those things on film and she’s getting better at that, because I don’t want her to not think score to where she’s thinking ‘pass.’ It’s that fine line.”
Thursday, Matharu found that balance.
She recorded three steals in her 19 minutes of action, marking just the fourth time in her career she’s hit that mark. Matharu also drained five free throws in the final two-plus minutes — including four in the final 39 seconds — to put the Tigers on ice for the ninth straight time in the head-to-head series.
“We talk a lot about being able to guard the ball, helping your teammates, and tonight the effort was just there,” she said of how MSU was able to pull away. “I think everybody wanted to win, everybody wanted to play defense, and it showed.”
While Matharu paced MSU throughout Thursday’s second half, the first half mimicked blunders of the past two months.
MSU missed its first five shots in the contest. Sloppy guard play from everyone but junior Myah Taylor manifested in seven first-half turnovers that led to 10 LSU points.
Sophomore JaMya Mingo-Young, whose second season in Starkville has been as forgettable as any, recorded the most illustrious ill-timed play of a first half filled with them as she fouled Tigers guard Karli Seay on a 3-point attempt in the closing seconds of the half. Seay promptly drained all three of her attempts to push LSU’s halftime lead to eight.
With LSU’s lead ballooning to as many as 10 points in the third quarter, Matharu bolstered the most complete 10 minutes of basketball the Bulldogs have played in nearly two months. Scoring 11 of her 19 points in the first seven-plus minutes of the frame, Matharu and MSU forced LSU into eight turnovers and outscored the Tigers 25-8 in the Bulldogs’ most complete quarter of basketball in months.
After TCU transfer Ryann Payne gave LSU a brief gasp at life in the late stages of Thursday’s contest, it was junior forward Jessika Carter — who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds in a dominating post performance — that emphatically slammed the door. Matched up on a smaller Tigers guard with just over two minutes remaining, Carter backed into the paint and cashed home a layup to give the Bulldogs an eight-point lead they wouldn’t relent.
With their backs against the wall this winter, the Bulldogs have persistently wilted. They were run off the floor by No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 5 South Carolina in January. Alabama, which sat sixth in the Southeastern Conference standings heading into Thursday, took MSU to the woodshed over the weekend in a game with a final score that indicated a closer game than actually unfolded.
But for the first time in months, MSU looked the part of a team that might be finding a late-season pulse.
This isn’t to say Thursday was perfect. Far from it. Before heading to the locker room following the win, McCray-Penson gathered her squad along the sideline to harp on the offensive rebound the Bulldogs surrendered in the final seconds of the contest. In close games, she said, that can’t happen.
With the win over LSU now in tow, MSU has likely locked itself into a NCAA tournament bid despite a Sunday date against Missouri and next week’s SEC tournament still looming.
For a team that’s endured everything from COVID-19 cancellations and its first five-game losing streak in almost a decade to having its bus en route to Ole Miss forced back to Starkville due to impending winter weather, Thursday offered something the Bulldogs haven’t felt since January: hope.
“I just want to continue to get better,” McCray-Penson said when asked whether she thought the win cemented MSU as a tournament team, “and we’ll let the chips fall where they may.”
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 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.