Nikki McCray-Penson’s honeymoon at Mississippi State ended Saturday in Tampa.
After MSU boat raced Jackson State and New Orleans while scoring an average of 97 points per game to open its season, the Bulldogs fell to South Florida Saturday 67-63 in overtime for the first loss of the McCray-Penson era.
“Obviously it doesn’t feel good to lose and to lose when you look at the stat sheet and it tells a story,” McCray-Penson said. “But all things that we can continue to learn from.”
Just days after dominating the boards against an undersized New Orleans squad Wednesday, the Bulldogs were outrebounded 24-19 in the opening 20 minutes of Saturday’s contest as South Florida’s pesky defense held MSU’s dynamic guards in check.
Struggling to find any kind of rhythm in Tampa, the Bulldogs went scoreless for more than six minutes during the second quarter and missed nine of their final 10 field goals to close the first half as they trailed 36-31 heading into the break.
Sophomore Rickea Jackson and junior Jessika Carter kept the Bulldogs in striking distance as they turned in 11 and nine first half points, respectively.
Following a stagnant first 20 minutes, sophomore guard Aliyah Matharu momentarily breathed life into an otherwise anemic MSU offense. Flashing the inside-out ability that made her a super sub down the stretch a season ago for Vic Schaefer, Matharu notched seven straight points and 10 points overall in the third quarter as she helped the Bulldogs to a six point lead.
“She had good energy, she hit some shots and that helps,” McCray-Penson said. “The one thing she’s got to do is to get going and continue to take good shots.”
But as was the case all too often Saturday night, defensive lapse after defensive lapse gave the Bulls a five point lead heading into the fourth quarter as they outscored MSU 11-0 to close the frame.
With just under 40 seconds remaining, the Bulldogs narrowly missed their chance to take a late lead as Matharu came off a screen at the top of the key, but failed to keep her feet and flung up an errant shot. After a USF timeout, Bulls guard Elisa Pinzan — who narrowly missed a triple-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists — hucked up a long three under heavy pressure from junior guard Myah Taylor that clanked off the rim and sent the game to overtime.
As both teams struggled to scoring droughts of 2:20 or more during the extra frame, it was Pinzan who put the game on ice with a pair of free throws with 6.3 seconds remaining to send MSU to its second loss to an unranked team since 2013.
“They’re learning how to play a lot of minutes and being able to produce and perform and understand what we’re doing,” McCray-Penson said of her young team.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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