Spinning to her left as a gaggle of South Carolina defenders collapsed on her, Mississippi State senior guard Jordan Danberry looked on in disbelief.
Gazing toward the front of the rim as her floater trickled with 16 seconds left trickled off the iron, Danberry could only watch as Gamecocks (18-1, 6-0 SEC) freshman Aliyah Boston secured the rebound and with it a 81-79 win over the No. 9-ranked Bulldogs (16-3, 4-1 SEC) Monday night in Columbia.
“My kids played their hearts out,” Schaefer said postgame. “It was a heck of a basketball game. Tremendous crowd as always great atmosphere for a game and for the nation to see. I’m just proud of our kids of their competitive spirit how hard they fought.”
While Schaefer has lamented his team’s inexperience over the season’s opening half, it was a cast of freshmen characters that aided in MSU’s offensive effort and a 12-point comeback that ultimately fell two points short.
Following a first quarter in which the Bulldogs looked the part of a disjointed, youthful contingent playing in front of over 10,000 fans for the first time, 2019 McDonald’s All-American Rickea Jackson lived up to her her recruiting hype as she flashed the inside-outside offensive approach that made her the No. 6 player in the 2019 class.
Notching nine of her 16 points in the game’s second 10 minutes, Jackson helped the Bulldogs to a 29-21 edge in the second quarter as the Gamecocks’ lead shrunk from 12 to one by halftime.
As Jackson aided in the comeback effort early, it was streaky freshman guard Aliyah Matharu who bridged the gap. Coming off the bench in place of senior stalwart Jordan Danberry, Matharu afforded Schaefer’s squad instant offense.
First it was a 3-point jumper from the top of the key. One possession later, Matharu drove left, hung in midair and lofted a floater through the hoop. Another 3-pointer from the left wing followed. So too did a layup in transition as she stepped around a South Carolina defender. In just three minutes the minute Matharu had given MSU 10 straight points and a 56-54 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
With sophomore center Jessika Carter — who entered the contest averaging better than a double-double — battling foul trouble throughout, Schaefer was also forced to use backups Yemiyah Morris and Promise Taylor in major spurts. Having challenged both players’ toughness earlier in the week, the pair responded as they combined for four points and five rebounds in 10 minutes played.
After leading by as many as nine points in the final frame, MSU was afforded one final chance after Danberry’s errant layup with 6.2 seconds remaining. Standing beneath the South Carolina basket as the inbounder, Matharu tossed an ill-advised pass to the center of the court where Gamecocks guard Zia Cooke swiped the ball and dribbled out the clock to cap off an over three-minute scoreless run by the Bulldogs in which they missed their final four shots of the contest.
MSU now heads to Nashville for a road date with Vanderbilt Thursday. And while the Bulldogs ended up on the losing end Monday against a South Carolina team that was voted No. 1 in the Associated Press top 25 for the second-straight week, Schaefer remains confident in his young team’s showing.
“That’s a heck of a basketball team,” he said. “I think everybody saw across the country that if they’re No. 1, we’re not far behind.”
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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