STARKVILLE — Sam Purcell put it as eloquently as possible: “Welcome to the SEC.”
Mississippi State was welcomed rudely to conference play Thursday night on its own home floor as a much-improved Vanderbilt team came into Humphrey Coliseum and outlasted the Bulldogs, sending Purcell’s squad to a 71-66 defeat and picking up its first Southeastern Conference road win in four years.
“For whatever reason, we weren’t dialed in on the defensive end,” Purcell said. “They had probably four or five layups off high on-ball screens that we had zero rotations, and that just gave them a confidence and a spark to jump on us on the road.”
MSU (13-3, 0-1 SEC) did well to limit the Commodores’ leading scorer, Jordyn Cambridge, to seven points, but the Bulldogs had no answers for Iyana Moore, who put up a season-high 29 points on 10-for-16 shooting. Every time the hosts made a run, Vanderbilt (14-1, 1-0) had an answer, usually in the form of Moore.
Both teams were playing at a breakneck pace to open the game before settling down, and the Bulldogs trailed by four after the first 10 minutes. MSU began imposing its will in the second quarter, turning defense into offense during a 14-3 run to open up a seven-point lead and force Commodores head coach Shea Ralph to take a timeout.
Debreasha Powe found herself wide open under the basket, and Lauren Park-Lane found her there for a layup to put the Bulldogs in front. Excellent ball movement then led to an open corner 3-pointer for Darrione Rogers, and then freshman Mjracle Sheppard got a steal in the backcourt and took it in for a layup to give MSU its largest advantage.
But Vanderbilt punched back just as quickly. Seven straight points for Iyana Moore gave her 14 for the night, helping the Commodores go up by three at the break. Despite the Bulldogs making eight of 13 shots in the third quarter, the visitors continued to weather every storm and took a six-point lead into the final period.
“We went for home runs. There were probably three or four possessions where you could feel the energy in the building when we got a huge rebound, and then we took off in transition and we just turned it over,” Purcell said. “And we let that affect us. Vanderbilt just stayed in the moment. It was almost like we gave them a get-out-of-jail card when we threw it in transition and turned it over.”
MSU made another push in the fourth as Rogers and Powe each knocked down a 3-pointer, and they tied the game with six and a half minutes to go on a driving layup by Jordan. But Vanderbilt again answered, retaking the lead for good when Justine Pissott’s 3-pointer bounced through the net.
Despite Cambridge — who has been named to the SEC all-defensive team twice — fouling out with nearly nine minutes left, the Bulldogs could not generate enough offense to pull out the victory. MSU finished just 6-for-20 from 3-point range, and Jordan, who led the Bulldogs with 21 points, missed the first six of her 3-point attempts before finally connecting in the final minute.
The Commodores also held Jessika Carter, who came in averaging 15 points per game, scoreless over the final three quarters.
“They ran a 2-2-1 press where our guards had to come back to the ball,” Purcell said. “We got caught in too much ball reversal. We didn’t look inside. Credit to Vanderbilt; they tried to keep us off balance. (Ralph) was changing defenses throughout the game.”
MSU still had a chance to tie the game on its final possession, trailing by three, and Rogers tried to cut to the right corner for an open 3-point look. But Park-Lane, with two defenders between her and Rogers, tried to force the pass anyway, and it found the wrong hands to seal the Bulldogs’ fate.
The schedule only gets harder from here, with MSU visiting No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday.
“Credit to them, but at the end of the day, we’re just going to get back at (it in) practice. This game does not define who we are as a team,” Rogers said. “We still have a long season ahead of us, so we just have to come in with that mindset that we’re going to get better.”
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