Mississippi State was in position to complete a perfect week on the road, leading Florida by nine points midway through the fourth quarter Sunday.
Even after turning the ball over 17 times in the first half alone, the Bulldogs rallied with a dominant third quarter and had the host Gators on the ropes. But MSU missed its last four shots of the game, while Florida made its last four. Jeriah Warren’s 3-pointer bounced off the front of the rim and then the backboard before dropping through the net just after the final buzzer sounded, handing the Bulldogs a heartbreaking 69-66 defeat.
According to Charlie Creme of ESPN, MSU (18-9, 5-8 Southeastern Conference) was projected as a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament as of Friday, and the loss to Florida (13-13, 4-8) narrows the Bulldogs’ margin for error with just three regular-season games left.
Jerkaila Jordan, coming off a heroic effort in which she overcame a leg injury to help MSU win at Vanderbilt on Thursday night, scored seven of her 12 points in the second quarter Sunday. Point guard Denim Deshields had a season-high 15 points and was 4-for-6 from behind the arc, with one of her 3-pointers giving the Bulldogs a five-point lead late in the first half. But the Gators closed the half on an 11-0 run, a stretch that included three MSU turnovers.
DeShields really heated up after halftime, scoring 11 points in the third quarter alone during a 16-3 Bulldogs run. As a team, MSU was 9-for-20 on 3-pointers, its best showing from distance since a Jan. 12 win at Georgia. Debreasha Powe — three days after hitting just one of 10 attempts from deep against Vanderbilt — was 3-for-6 in this game, with two of her makes coming in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs built their largest lead.
MSU needed to be sharp from outside, though, because things were not working for the Bulldogs in the paint the way they had been in the Vanderbilt game. Madina Okot dealt with foul trouble and had just two points in 18 minutes, eventually fouling out with one minute and 20 seconds left and MSU leading by two.
Quanirah Montague, who had a double-double against the Commodores, was held to seven points and three rebounds in 12 minutes Sunday. Florida outscored the Bulldogs 34-20 in the paint despite MSU’s 17-9 edge on the offensive glass.
Turnovers have been the Bulldogs’ fatal flaw all year long, and they committed a season-high 26 of them in this game. Almost nobody on the roster was immune — Jordan had six turnovers, Eniya Russell five, DeShields four and Okot three. MSU also struggled to contain Gators freshman Liv McGill, who had a game-high 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting.
The Bulldogs have a full week off before hosting Texas A&M at 2 p.m. Sunday.
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