OXFORD — Aliyah Matharu squared and fired.
Crashing into the floor upon her release, Matharu sat just inches from the Mississippi State bench as she watched her shot splash through the netting on the west side of The Pavilion.
Finishing with a career-high 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting, it was Matharu that helped MSU (25-5, 13-3 SEC) to a 84-59 win over Ole Miss (7-21, 0-16 SEC) in Oxford Sunday.
With the victory, MSU has now won 13-straight over Ole Miss dating back to 2014.
“After the Arkansas game I couldn’t string it together, I couldn’t stay in front of Jordan (Danberry) in practice,” Matharu said of the days leading up to Sunday. “I was struggling trying to keep her in front of me but then we started doing more defensive drills and eventually before practice was over I got a couple of stops where I got into a flow. So I just tried to just focus on my defense because (the offense will) come. My teammates play a big role in getting me the shots I get so I just tried to focus on my defense.”
While the Bulldog faithful outnumbered their Rebel counterparts nearly three-to-one at The Pavilion, it was the subdued home crowd that celebrated early. After Ole Miss was run out of the gym in their 80-39 loss in Starkville, the Rebels twice earned first half leads by way of 16 points off nine MSU turnovers.
Following a first quarter chock-full erratic play, Matharu provided the initial spark in distancing the Bulldogs — scoring eight of her 24 points over the half’s final 1:12.
In the midst of a 14-0 run to close the second quarter, Matharu first drained a 3-pointer from the left wing. Jumping in front of the ensuing inbounds pass, she flipped off a dish to classmate JaMya Mingo-Young for a wide-open bucket. One possession later, Matharu floated a left-handed layup high off the glass before draining the third of her five 3-pointers with five second left to give MSU a 12-point halftime lead.
As impressive as Matharu’s late-half dramatics, it’s the way in which she’s gone about the past month that’s as notable. After earning Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week honors following 10 and 14-point efforts against No. 1 South Carolina and Vanderbilt, respectively, she played over eight minutes in a game just once in MSU’s next eight contests.
Despite that, her 18-point effort against Arkansas Thursday reintroduced onlookers to her innate scoring prowess. Sunday’s game was further evidence of such — though MSU coach Vic Schaefer said postgame Matharu would’ve started against the Rebels had she not been seven minutes late for the team bus.
“I think Aliyah Matharu is part of our rotation right now,” Schaefer said. “I think she’s worked her way into that. It’s hard when you’re a freshman and you’re not playing and you want to play and you think you should be playing but the coach doesn’t think you should be playing. A lot of kids, they’ll hang their heads and they won’t keep competing and you’ve got to give Aliyah credit — she’s kept after it and she’s been given some opportunities now and she’s part of the rotation.”
Following Matharu’s hot shooting effort to close the first half, the Bulldogs promptly buried the Rebels with a 22-0 run that spanned 5:51 between the end of the second quarter and into the third.
While Matharu led all scorers, senior guard Jordan Danberry filled the stat sheet in her final regular season game as a Bulldog — finishing with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Still recovering from a recent bout with strep throat, freshman guard Rickea Jackson looked more the part of her SEC Freshman of the Year candidate-self. After playing just 16 minutes against Arkansas Thursday, Jackson notched nine points, five rebounds, two assists, three steals and three blocks in 33 minutes of action — though Schaefer said she’s still struggling to communicate vocally given her sore throat.
Junior forward Chloe Bibby also earned just her second double-digit scoring output in MSU’s past six games with a 10-point effort.
“I just focused on my defense,” Bibby said through a laugh, echoing Matharu’s earlier answer. “I’ve been working hard in practice trying to get that a bit better and everything flows from there.”
MSU next returns to action Friday at 5:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament at the Bon Secours Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. As the No. 2 seed, the Bulldogs will meet the winner of the No. 7 vs. No. 10 game.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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