STARKVILLE — As far as Sam Purcell is concerned, every month is Jerkaila Jordan’s month.

At the season’s outset, Jordan was “Miss November,” and she delivered with four games scoring 20 points or more. Purcell then anointed her “Miss December,” and Jordan remained consistent, putting up at least 17 points in five of Mississippi State’s six games that month. But as the new year dawned, Purcell had a new, month-specific nickname for his senior guard.

“I got a new announcement for y’all. Are they ready for this? ‘Headband Jerk January,’” Purcell told reporters on Jan. 2. “We’re going up another level. We both decided on the way down, if the headband doesn’t work, we’ll throw it off during the game.”

As it turned out, the headband only lasted one game, not that Jordan played poorly in the Southeastern Conference opener against Vanderbilt. The New Orleans native led the Bulldogs with 21 points and added five assists, but finished just 1-for-7 from 3-point range as MSU lost by six. So three days later at No. 1 South Carolina, Jordan was back to playing headband-free, and she finished with a game-high 25 points as well as three steals.

“It didn’t last that long,” Jordan said. “I think I’m better without it. I might just go as ‘Jerk January.’”

Whatever Purcell wants to call her, Jordan closed out January as the lead engineer behind the Bulldogs’ biggest win of the year Monday night. Playing against her home state team, Jordan led all scorers with 24 points, finishing 9-for-17 from the floor and a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc as MSU took down defending national champion and No. 9 LSU, 77-73.

She was also among the key cogs in the Bulldogs’ defensive effort, recording five steals and limiting the production of the Tigers’ guards. Jordan’s performance, which followed a 21-point, 12-rebound effort in a win at Florida the previous Monday, earned her SEC Co-Player of the Week honors.

“It just means the world going out there knowing not only does your team have your back, but the fans have your back,” Jordan said. “(Purcell) says it a lot, that the fans are like our sixth man. Just knowing they’re here no matter what, through adversity, is unbelievable to watch, and it’s something you wish to play in front of.”

With freshman Mjracle Sheppard locking up LSU point guard Hailey Van Lith, holding the Louisville transfer to four points, Jordan was assigned to the Tigers’ 3-point specialist, Mikaylah Williams. Jordan struck first in that individual battle, stealing the ball from Williams and taking it the other way for the game’s first points.

Williams, who came in shooting better than 40 percent from deep, did not even attempt a 3-pointer until the fourth quarter Monday night, finishing with 11 points on 1-for-4 from long range.

Jordan began heating up during MSU’s 16-2 first-quarter run, drilling her first 3-pointer and making another fast-break layup within 13 seconds of each other to put the Bulldogs (17-5, 4-3 SEC) ahead by five.

After being held scoreless in the second quarter, she came out on fire in the third. With MSU down by seven, Jordan dribbled to shake free of the Tigers’ Flau’jae Johnson and drained her second 3-ball of the night, then hit another to give the Bulldogs the lead two minutes later. She finished with 12 points in that third quarter, making all four of her field goals as well as two free throws, as the hosts turned a five-point halftime deficit into a six-point lead.

“We noticed that every third quarter, we were coming out kind of sluggish,” Jordan said. “We got a new game plan, going out five minutes before the clock, just getting more shots up and not getting cold. It’s something we worked on, and we had success, so we’ll probably just keep doing it.”

Entering Monday, Jordan had made just five of 22 shots from distance in January, but her performance against LSU (18-4, 5-3) helped MSU finish with its third-best overall shooting percentage of the year and second-best 3-point shooting effort of the season when the Bulldogs needed it most.

The fact that it came against the flagship program from her home state only made it sweeter.

“I’ve been waiting on this one,” Jordan said. “I’m from Louisiana, but at the same time, I put on a Mississippi State jersey. So I go out there and I do it for Mississippi State, and that’s what I did tonight. We got the win, us and the fans.”