STARKVILLE — Things got much more tense than Mississippi State fans were expecting at Humphrey Coliseum on Thursday night as Auburn caught fire in the third quarter.
Shooting 80 percent from the field, the Tigers took their first lead of the game and just couldn’t miss as the two teams were deadlocked at 47-47 headed to the fourth.
The Bulldogs needed to put Auburn away fast, so who else but Ahlana Smith to drop a dagger on the Tigers to start off the quarter.
Following a fantastic sequence of a Debreasha Powe block turned into a Jessika Carter layup and a pair of free throws from JerKaila Jordan, the Bulldogs came back down the floor with momentum.
Open on the wing was Smith, who nailed a wide-open 3-pointer, giving MSU a 54-47 lead and sending The Hump into a frenzy. That was exactly the start the Bulldogs needed as they defeated Auburn, 72-58.
“We’ve talked about being tough,” Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell said. “This is what the SEC is all about. They’re going to make runs. We’re going to make runs. We talked about how well we’ve played on the road, but we also talked about how we haven’t won a SEC game at home.
“For us to come out and get a home win, it was huge. It felt great.”
The 7-0 start to the fourth was really the catalyst late for Mississippi State (14-5, 3-3 SEC), which outscored Auburn 25-11 in the quarter, much like how the Tigers outscored the Bulldogs 29-21 in the third to tie things up.
Thursday’s game ended much like how it started, as the Bulldogs took an 18-5 lead after the first quarter, with Auburn (10-8, 0-6 SEC) shooting 2 of 12 from the field, unable to find any consistency on offense.
Offensive struggles riddled MSU in the second quarter, scoring just eight points, but defense played a major factor as the Bulldogs held the Tigers to 22.6 percent shooting from the field in the first half and 38.7 percent overall.
“I’m going to give a shoutout to Denae Carter, who’s now my assistant coach,” Purcell said. “She looked up at me and said, ‘Coach, where’s the juice?’ I said, ‘Denae, right now, it’s not about me, it’s about you all. You know what you have to do. You’re at home. This has to be player led right now.’ … They weren’t going to be denied at home.”
Thursday saw four Bulldogs finish in double figures, led by a masterful performance from Jessika Carter, who posted a 24-point, 11-rebound double-double on the night, her eighth double-double of the season.
Alongside her, Jordan had her own double-double, with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Smith finished with 12, her second straight game with 10-plus points, and Asianae Johnson had 13 points and seven rebounds.
“He just told us to keep going,” Johnson said. “It reminded us of what happened with the Ole Miss game in the fourth quarter…We took it upon ourselves and said, we’re not losing this one…I knew once they started going, the lane would be open for me in the second half.”
Typically a weak spot for Mississippi State, the Bulldogs controlled the boards once again, out-rebounding Auburn, 44-28.
Having two double-doubles posted and overall great consistency on the glass made this game a much easier fight at the end for MSU.
“Today, I just felt like that was something we worked on a lot, especially rebounding in the zone,” Jordan said. “That’s something I focused on today and I’m just glad to help my team get the win.”
Free throws also made the difference late as the Bulldogs shot 12 of 14 from the line in the fourth and 21 of 29 in the second half alone.
Now back to .500 in conference play, Mississippi State comes back to the Hump at noon Sunday to host Kentucky as the Bulldogs go for a third straight win.
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 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.