After two games in which Mississippi State did as good a job taking care of the ball as it has all season, the Bulldogs had as many turnovers as points in the first quarter of Sunday’s regular-season finale at Auburn.

But MSU gradually dug its way out of an early 10-point deficit, using a big run at the beginning of the second half to pull ahead for good. The Bulldogs managed to hang on for a 73-66 victory over the Tigers, securing their third straight 20-win season under head coach Sam Purcell.

“We called ourselves the party crashers today because it was their Senior Day, and they had a lot of celebrations,” Purcell said. “We had to come in here and muck it up. Just the will to win, coming playing to win was huge. Shoutout to Eniya Russell. I’ve been saying this all this last month, if we get her going, watch out.”

MSU (20-10, 7-9 Southeastern Conference) needed Russell’s ball-handling skills on a day where both point guards, Denim DeShields and Destiney McPhaul, battled foul trouble throughout the game. Both fouled out in the fourth quarter, so Russell and Jerkaila Jordan, with some help from Chandler Prater, handled the point guard duties down the stretch.

Russell and Jordan, the duo Purcell called “Batman and Batman” earlier in the season, both starred Sunday, but it was Russell who led the Bulldogs in scoring after slumping for most of February. She finished with 19 points, eight of them in the fourth quarter, on 7-for-12 shooting, while Jordan chipped in with 17 points. Prater and Debreasha Powe were also in double figures for MSU with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Auburn (12-17, 3-13) jumped out to an 11-2 lead after four minutes, which featured three Bulldogs turnovers in a 73-second span. The Tigers led for the entire first half before MSU opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run, spearheaded by two 3-pointers from Powe. DeYona Gaston had 33 points for Auburn and Mar’shaun Bostic nearly had a triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, but the Bulldogs kept everyone else in check.

MSU held the Tigers to 4-for-19 from behind the arc and made one more field goal overall than Auburn despite 17 fewer attempts due to the turnovers. The Bulldogs also did a good job capitalizing on the Tigers’ 13 turnovers, converting them into 18 points, and were 18-for-22 at the free throw line to hold off Auburn late.

As the No. 10 seed in the SEC Tournament, MSU will play No. 15 seed Missouri on Wednesday evening in Greenville, South Carolina. It’s an opportunity for revenge after Missouri defeated the Bulldogs on a Grace Slaughter buzzer-beater in late January. The winner will face No. 7 seed Ole Miss on Thursday, so the Bulldogs are also fighting for a chance to avenge a January loss to their biggest rivals.

“I don’t care who we play at this point. We just got 20 wins. We’re battling in the toughest league. I just got Eniya Russell cooking again,” Purcell said. “This season, we’ve had every adversity. I didn’t have a point guard for the last five minutes. At that point, you have to execute. We had some charges, but it was our poise and our balance where we simplified (the offense) and we made plays.”