Mississippi State women’s basketball suffered another road defeat in SEC play on Sunday, falling 85-78 at No. 23 Alabama.
The Bulldogs fell behind early as the Tide opened up with an 8-0 run, but a quick resurgence got them back into the contest. As a team, MSU did well to get into the paint, but didn’t always convert on opportunities. The squad finished 5-14 on layups in the first half, scoring 12 points in the paint but also going 8-9 at the foul line.
Madison Francis had a particularly influential performance, snagging four steals and four rebounds on top of her six points and a block in the first half. She helped to facilitate a strong half for Favour Nwaedozi as well, who scored 10 points and took advantage of space afforded to her on mid-range efforts with a pair of jumpers.
The game started to get a bit chippy because of the physicality, and bubbled up a bit when a Naomi Jones block led to a technical foul after standing over Francis, which led to two hits from the free throw line from Trayanna Crisp.
The Tide got an advantageous moment for themselves at the end of the half, capitalizing on an off-ball foul by Destiney McPhaul to reset and hit a three before the buzzer, taking a 35-31 lead into the locker room.
Alabama’s offense came to life thanks in no small part to Jessica Timmons, whose shooting put the Tide in front early in the second half, but again the Bulldogs showed the fight to claw back. Jaylah Lampley got involved on offense and hit a three to give MSU a lead as part of a 12-1 run near the end of the third quarter. It was a shot of momentum MSU needed going into the final frame. The Tide believed that they got a shot of their own with a buzzer-beater triple from Diana Collins to keep it a one-point game going into the fourth, but after a review, the shot was waved off as the ball hadn’t left her hand when the clock hit zero.
The Bulldogs fell behind again after a six-minute drought from the floor. Alabama senior Karly Weathers took over with eight points in a minute, and Timmons added an and-one bucket to give the Tide a 74-66 lead going into the final three minutes of the contest.
Nwaedozi and Francis both hit shots to keep it close, but a dagger three from a wide open Weathers helped put the Tide out in front for good.
Timmons finished the game with 28 points, going a perfect 11-11 at the foul line, with Collins on 15, Weathers on 13 and Ace Austin and Naomi Jones on 10 each for the Tide. Weathers scored 11 of her 13 in the fourth quarter.
Nwaedozi led the Bulldogs with 19 points while Francis added 16 points to a strong all-around performance, including eight rebounds, seven steals and a pair of assists.
MSU is still in search of its first SEC road win, and will have another shot against No. 17 Tennessee in Knoxville on Thursday.
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