Anastasia Hayes led five players in double figures with 22 points, while JerKaila Jordan scored 18 on 8-of-9 shooting as the Mississippi State women’s basketball team handed Texas A&M a 78-58 defeat on Sunday at Humphrey Coliseum.

The prolific offensive play the Bulldogs showed Thursday against Missouri was in evidence again as they outworked a physical Aggies team and proved again they can find ways to fill the scoring hole left when leading scorer Rickea Jackson entered the transfer portal.

“Nobody bats an eye. They just lean into it. Instead of cowering and asking, “Why us?” they just keep leaning into it,” interim coach Doug Novak said. “They care deeply about each other. They always want to honor each other by playing hard. It sure seems like that is what we do.”

The Bulldogs improved to 13-7, 4-4 in the Southeastern Conference, while Texas A&M fell to 11-9, 1-7.

It was the first time since Nov. 22 against Bethune-Cookman that the Bulldogs had five players in double figures, and they enjoyed one of the best shooting days of the season. MSU shot 58 percent from the floor, hitting 9 of 13 shots from 3-point range. 

Aislynn Hayes made 4 of 6 3-pointers and finished with 14 points in just 18 minutes, while Caterrion Thompson scored 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from downtown. Myah Taylor was also in double figures with 10 points, also contributing 6 assists and 4 steals.

“I think that everything started in practice leading up to this game,” Taylor said. “We practiced a lot of digging and helping in the post. We knew coming into this game that we would be outsized. 

“I think that we executed the game plan very well. The coaches gave us a great game plan, and we trusted it. We were able to go out there and execute it.”

Despite the size difference, the Aggies held a slim 28-26 edge in rebounding. 

The first quarter saw a slow start on offense by both teams, but the Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run to establish a 17-12 lead going into the second quarter. It was an advantage they built on during the second quarter, with solid scoring performances from all three starting guards.

The Bulldogs made all four of their 3-pointers during the second quarter and shot 9 of 11 overall from the floor to outscore the Aggies 24-11, taking a 41-23 lead into halftime.

Freshman Denae Carter went down in the third quarter holding her knee, a worrying injury to keep an eye on going forward. Carter did not score and finished with 5 rebounds in 24 minutes.

Jordan led the Bulldogs with 9 rebounds.

Kayla Wells came off the bench to score 17 points for Texas A&M, which trailed 58-45 after three quarters.

The Bulldogs go back on the road to face Auburn on Thursday before having a week off before returning home to take on Florida on Feb. 10.