STARKVILLE — By any standard, the Mississippi State women’s basketball team had a tough season.
A team that missed the NCAA tournament and declined a WNIT invitation promptly lost player after player to the transfer portal, including Xaria Wiggins, Aliyah Matharu and JaMya Mingo-Young. On Oct. 12, less than three weeks before Monday’s season-opening exhibition against Division II Mississippi College, head coach Nikki McCray-Penson abruptly resigned because of health concerns.
But the Bulldogs still have Rickea Jackson, and she just might be their saving grace in what could be another uneasy year in Starkville.
The junior forward from Detroit stuffed the stat sheet in Monday’s 94-47 cakewalk against the Choctaws, delivering 22 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in just 17 minutes on the court.
“The last thing that we want to do is have her just isolated offensively in a particular spot,” Mississippi State coach Doug Novak said. “We have to be able to move her around and play off of other people. She is such a weapon.”
Jackson scored 14 points in the first half and added back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter, adding a block a few seconds later. She knocked down a fastbreak jumper to cap her scoring and her night less than three minutes into the period.
Then it was her supporting cast’s time to shine.
Four other Bulldogs finished in double figures: Anastasia Hayes with 14 points, Aislynn Hayes with 13, JerKaila Jordan with 12 and Denae Carter with 11.
And none of them was on Mississippi State’s roster last season.
The Hayes sisters transferred in from Middle Tennessee (along with Alasia Hayes, who was out injured), Jordan came in from Tulane, and Carter is a freshman from Philadelphia.
“We’re all in this together, really,” Carter said. “We have a lot of pieces, and I think that we all have a lot to showcase. It’s really fun because as we mix up the lineups, you can still see that our offense is going to flow, our defense is going to flow.”
Mississippi State used an effective transition game to score throughout the game, posting 29 fastbreak points to the Choctaws’ 4. Novak said having four capable ball handlers — Jackson, Jordan, Anastasia Hayes and redshirt senior guard Myah Taylor — helps the Bulldogs “bust out” when they need to push the pace.
“We know we have a lot of speed on this team, so it’s a good thing,” Aislynn Hayes said. “Once we get a rebound, we can just go up and get a layup that quick. It makes offense a lot easier.”
It was far from easy for MSU’s hapless opponents Monday, though.
Mississippi State forced Mississippi College into 26 turnovers, 10 of which came during the first quarter. The Choctaws shot 33.3 percent from the field, made 20 percent of their 3-point attempts and were held scoreless for more than seven minutes to start the game as the Bulldogs raced out to a 16-0 lead.
It just wasn’t competitive. But exhibitions against D-II schools aren’t supposed to be, and Mississippi State made sure of that.
Novak said his team has improved each day in terms of skill at practice and communication, and it showed in Monday’s rout. Following the win, the Bulldogs debriefed in their postgame gathering at midcourt.
“We always want to huddle up in that center circle and give one final message,” Novak said. “I don’t know if there was anything spectacular to it other than, ‘It’s a start.’”
For a Mississippi State team in need of precisely that, it was a good one.
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