STARKVILLE — Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Sam Purcell could sense the excitement at Starkville’s Georgia Blue restaurant as he worked a room full of MSU alumni at the first stop of this year’s Hail State Happy Hours tour. For hours, Purcell sat at tables, answering questions about his team’s roster and how to get season tickets.
Coming off the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019, there is renewed optimism that MSU is on its way back to being amongst the best in the sport – just as it was during the last decade. Heading into year No. 2, Purcell believes he has built a roster to meet those rising expectations.
“I gotta give a lot of credit to my staff because after last year’s awesome run, which was (tabbed) ‘Why not us,’ because we were trying to get the program back, the vision is real,” Purcell told The Dispatch Tuesday night. “That is the beauty of the NCAA (transfer) rules. I know a lot of fans don’t necessarily like it, but when it works in your favor, they love it. There was a situation where we were able to add some good, young women and then most importantly, our players that played last year came back. The ones that really loved it and had a great experience (came back). So we are excited for year two.”
The Bulldogs, who went 22-11 last year with two NCAA Tournament wins over 11-seed Illinois in the First Four and 6-seed Creighton in the First Round before falling to 3-seed Notre Dame in South Bend, return their top-two scorers this winter in grad senior center Jessika Carter (14.8 PPG, 7.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists) and senior guard JerKaila Jordan (11.9 PPG, 5.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists). Debreasha Powe, another starter who averaged 8.2 points per game last season, is also back.
In addition to those returnees, MSU signed a top-15 recruiting class, headlined by four-star forward Quanirah Cherry-Montague (No. 48 in ESPN’s 2023 class) and one of the sport’s top transfer classes in Seton Hall’s Lauren Park-Lane, Depaul’s Darrione Rogers and Arkansas’ Erynn Barnum.
Park-Lane, a grad transfer, was named an All-Big East first teamer last season after averaging 20.9 points per game and breaking Seton Hall’s single-season points record with 686.
Rogers, who has two years of eligibility left, averaged 16.8 points per game last season and was an All-Big East second teamer. Barnum, who Purcell knew well from SEC matchups, was an All-Conference second team player last year.
“We wanted to get some kids that were different from what we had returning,” Purcell said of his transfer portal strategy this offseason. “Jessika Carter is one of the best centers in the country. Debreasha Powe is one of the best shooters. JerKaila Jordan had a February like no other. (It was) what pieces could we put around those three that could provide something different.
“You look at Lauren Parker-Lane, who I am calling it right now that she is going to be a fan favorite, because of her size and heart. Erynn (Barnum) from Arkansas, who is unbelievable at 15 points per game and then Darrione (Rogers), who could shoot it as deep as Steph Curry. When you add three pieces like that, we got a special squad.”
That prompted Purcell and his staff to change this season’s team slogan to “One”, which was announced over Twitter earlier this month.
Purcell said it was a nod to this year being another step to getting the program back to where it once was.
“I wanted the offseason to unfold and when we got done looking at the roster, we said as a staff that the talent is there and the only thing that is going to stop us this year is ourselves,” Purcell said. “If we come together as one and are willing to play together as one, then we can do special things.”
Justin Frommer is the Mississippi State sports reporter for The Dispatch.
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