Jerkaila Jordan was on a mission, doing her best to nearly single-handedly save Mississippi State on Monday night against a Missouri team looking for its first Southeastern Conference win in more than a full calendar year.
The fifth-year senior guard from New Orleans finished with a career-best 40 points for the Bulldogs, but it was the points she didn’t score that will be the lasting memory from this back-and-forth affair at Mizzou Arena. Jordan missed six of her final seven free throw attempts and turned the ball over on MSU’s final possession with a one-point lead. Grace Slaughter beat the buzzer with a turnaround jumper on the other end to hand the Bulldogs a 78-77 defeat.
“This one stings,” MSU head coach Sam Purcell said. “The kids, they’re heartbroken in that locker room. They wanted this bad. I’m proud of the effort they gave, but at the end of the day, our defense was not good enough to get enough stops tonight.”
Slaughter, a sophomore sharpshooter and the Tigers’ leading scorer, nearly matched Jordan bucket for bucket with 31 points of her own. After the Bulldogs (16-6, 3-5 SEC) took a nine-point lead in the third quarter, their largest of the game, Slaughter nailed back-to-back 3-pointers 29 seconds apart to quickly trim Missouri’s deficit to one. She was also a perfect 8-for-8 at the foul line to Jordan’s 9-for-17.
MSU was without sixth woman Destiney McPhaul, who did not make the trip due to an illness. Debreasha Powe, also battling an illness, did not participate in the pregame shootaround but played 31 minutes, although she was held to just two points. Denim DeShields had to shoulder the load at point guard, with Jordan taking over as the lead ball-handler when DeShields was dealing with foul trouble.
Jordan had just three points after a quarter but exploded for 16 in the second, a year after torching the Tigers for 18 points in the third quarter at Humphrey Coliseum. She was 5-for-9 from behind the arc and played a season-high 38 minutes, sitting out for just 36 seconds in the first quarter and a minute in the third.
“We had some stuff going on with sickness and things like that. Obviously Destiney would have been huge tonight just to keep us together,” Purcell said. “For our kids to find a way and play new positions against a team that spaces you out and give us a chance, I’m proud for that part.”
In addition to being a distributor, McPhaul had been one of the Bulldogs’ most reliable scorers in SEC play, so without her, MSU had to rely on Jordan and Eniya Russell to generate offense. Russell had just seven points on 2-for-8 shooting, though the Bulldogs did get 12 points from DeShields. Madina Okot had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds as well as four blocks.
Missouri (12-10, 1-6) never went away in a game that featured 20 lead changes and was tied 18 times. Slaughter was the catalyst for the Tigers, but Ashton Judd was 7-for-7 on free throws, and Laniah Randle matched Judd with 14 points to go along with four steals.
“We gave up way too many and-ones this game,” Purcell said. “We wanted to be really fast and have transition, but for them to shoot 23 free throws, it was just an ugly game, and when it gets ugly, it’s advantage Missouri.”
Jordan’s offensive rebound and layup put MSU in front following an Okot block, and two Russell free throws gave the Bulldogs a two-possession lead before Abbey Schreacke responded with a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game. Out of a timeout, Jordan struggled to keep her dribble alive as she crossed the 3-point line, and Randle poked the ball free for Slaughter to collect.
Slaughter backed down the much smaller DeShields to the baseline, then pivoted before putting up a jumper with her left hand that found its way through the net.
MSU has its first conference bye this week before returning to action Sunday at No. 7 LSU.
“We called a timeout, even though we had the matchup earlier, because we wanted to catch our breath,” Purcell said. “We still were able to get it back in our hands for the end of the game. You just have to tip your had to Missouri. They got a deflection or a hand in there. (Jordan) wasn’t able to be stopped, but for that possession she was, and then they go down and make a dagger at the horn.”
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