STARKVILLE — Conference play is heating up.
With a three game stretch against ranked opponents just around the corner, the No. 8-ranked Mississippi State women’s basketball team (19-3, 7-1 SEC) welcomes Georgia (12-9, 3-5 SEC) to town Monday for a rematch of the Bulldogs’ seven-point win in Athens Jan. 5.
“We have to get ready for a really good Georgia team,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “They had a heart breaker last week at Texas A&M, losing by one. They had a great victory at Arkansas on the road two weeks ago. (Coach) Joni Taylor has done a tremendous job there. They are playing at a very high level.”
With the red and white clad Bulldogs riding a stretch of four straight ranked opponents, Taylor’s bunch picked up a much needed aforementioned win over Arkansas Jan. 23 before dropping games to No. 1 South Carolina and suffering a one-point loss at Texas A&M Thursday.
Flashing a balanced offensive attack, Georgia boasts seven players scoring at least 4.4 points per game this season. Of those, guards Gabby Connally and Maya Caldwell lead the bunch at 12.7 and 10 points per game, respectively.
“We were lucky to get out of there after the first time,” Schaefer said. “Obviously, I don’t think we are playing as well as we were. We have to find a way to get I fixed. With that being said, our kids got a day off. We will get back at it and get ready for a well-coached and really talented Georgia team.”
For MSU, the Bulldogs enter the contest sitting in sole possession of second place in the SEC standings behind South Carolina. And while Schaefer’s bunch endured a tight one-point loss to the Gamecocks in Columbia two weeks ago, the squad has shown a recent propensity to play down to its competition since.
In wins over Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Auburn, the Bulldogs averaged 14.3 turnovers per game compared to their season mark of 13.3 per night. Similarly, it took a 22-2 fourth quarter run to down the Commodores and a 27-13 third quarter to find breathing room against the Tigers in games that profiled as potential blowouts on paper.
Despite the recent downturn, Schaefer has received encouraging play from sophomore forward Xaria Wiggins and freshmen guards Aliyah Matharu and JaMya Mingo-Young of late.
While Matharu and Ming-Young were stymied in the win over Auburn, both scored double-digits against South Carolina. A 10-point outburst three nights later from Matharu also helped the Bulldogs survive a trip to Nashville and defeat Vanderbilt.
Wiggins has also seen a recent uptick in minutes — averaging 21 per game over the past three contests compared to her season average of 13.9. In a more prolific role, the Virginia Beach, Virginia native has delivered — notching 26 points on 9 of 18 shooting over her past four games.
“I think we have to bring a lot of energy coming off the bench — that’s out job,” Mingo-Young said last week. “You can’t have a downfall when you come off the bench, so I’m happy for Aliyah — that kid, she’s so tough — but we’ve just got to embrace the role and whatever coach needs us to do we’ve got to go out there and do it.”
Sitting precariously behind South Carolina for a shot at the SEC regular season title, MSU’s game against Georgia becomes all the more important as games against No. 22 Tennessee, No. 13 Kentucky and No. 15 Texas A&M loom over the next two weeks. And as the Bulldogs learned in Athens, anything short of a complete game could leave them out of the mix for a third-straight regular season conference championship.
“Look I learn something new about them every day,” Schaefer said Friday. “And so I think what we’ve seen is how well they can play and we’ve also seen the flip side of it — how they’ve struggled at times. My job is to get that consistency from them every day in practice and everyday in a game when the lights come one and that’s the challenge. But I think the one thing we are and we’re going be tomorrow is we’re talented, we’re skilled. We’ve got to continue to think the game a little bit.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
