The Mississippi State women’s basketball team opened the season Tuesday night with a 91-62 victory over Alabama State, the first win for the program under interim head coach Doug Novak.
“It felt like every other win I have had in my career, to be honest with you. It is just one game,” Novak said. “I felt great about our rhythm at practice yesterday. I felt great about the win in our game-day practice. The Hump is an amazing place to play, and I know it’s just getting started. What’s been done here is a pretty cool thing. I am very humbled to be a part of it right now.”
The game featured strong offensive output from the team’s key starters. Rickea Jackson especially stood out with 26 points, and Novak complimented her after the game as a “great scorer” but also as someone who “makes other players better.”
The Bulldogs were quick in attack, but a little sloppy on defense early. They led 30-23 after one quarter, but they pulled away with a dominant second quarter performance. They allowed only eight points in the period and led 53-31 at the half.
Jackson had 18 points in the first two quarters and created space for open looks for her teammates.
“It means a lot because the first day coach Doug coached us in practice, it felt like he had been here forever,” Jackson said. “It did not feel like “oh, he is new”. He came in, and he is vocal.
“I feel like everybody noticed he had a great basketball mind from day one. … He knew what he was doing from day one, so it just felt like he has been here forever. So, it just means a lot, and we know how hard he works, and we are his first female teams, so I know we are stressing him out. It means a lot, definitely, to get him this win.”
The Bulldogs remained in the driver’s seat the rest of the way, and got some valuable minutes for rotation players as well as a full workload from their key starters.
Transfer starters Anastasia Hayes and JerKaila Jordan were important contributors, providing 17 and 15 points, respectively.
Freshman forward Denae Carter was given good minutes off the bench at the 5 for the Bulldogs and hauled in a team-leading 11 rebounds. Starter Charlotte Kohl wound up sharing a lot of the time at the position with Carter and Raven Farley, who played 20 and 10 minutes, respectively to Kohl’s 10.
The win comes a day after Jasmine Shavers, a four-star guard in Mississippi State’s 2021 recruiting class, entered the transfer portal. Novak spoke highly of Shavers, who is the first player to enter the transfer portal since the coaching change, but said the focus remains on the team. “It’s sad because I like her, but the focus is on the people on the floor,” he said.
The Bulldogs next play this weekend, hosting South Dakota State at 6 p.m. Friday and Alcorn State at 5 p.m. Sunday.
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. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
