TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The same old issues plagued Mississippi State in Sunday’s loss to Alabama at Coleman Coliseum. And the Bulldogs are running out of time to fix them.
MSU turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 23 points for the Crimson Tide. The Bulldogs allowed Aaliyah Nye, a 43.2 percent 3-point shooter, to get open far too often and finish 8-for-13 from beyond the arc. It added up to an 87-75 defeat, MSU’s fourth in a row as the postseason draws ever closer.
“It’s a weird thing going on these last three games, where you’ve got big-time players having big-time performances on us,” Bulldogs head coach Sam Purcell said. “They hit some tough shots, some hard shots, and then for Nye to go off for 28 points is the difference in the game.”
Nye entered Sunday coming off her worst performance of the year, when she was held to three points in a loss Thursday at top-ranked South Carolina, but she connected thrice from deep within the first five minutes against MSU to help Alabama to a nine-point lead after a quarter. On the Crimson Tide’s very first possession, Nye received a pass straight up top and fired away as none of the Bulldogs’ guards were on her and center Jessika Carter’s closeout arrived too late.
Two minutes later, she pulled up with some room as Jerkaila Jordan was unable to get around a screen from Essence Cody, with Purcell audibly imploring his defense to recognize who had the ball. Nye hit again over the much smaller Lauren Park-Lane for her third 3-pointer of the opening quarter.
“We tried everything,” Purcell said. “We tried to deny her, we tried to make sure we didn’t lose her, but you have to tip your hat off to the young lady.”
MSU (20-9, 7-7 Southeastern Conference) turned the ball over six times in the first quarter but just once in the second as the Bulldogs rallied and used a 14-2 run to pole vault into the lead. Debreasha Powe and Darrione Rogers each hit a 3-pointer during that stretch, and MSU found success inside with both Park-Lane and Carter. But Alabama (21-8, 8-6) stormed back with seven straight points, including another 3-pointer by Nye, to go up by three at the half.
Carter kept the Bulldogs in the game for a time in the third, with nine of her team-high 18 points in the period, but MSU got sloppy again on offense and committed seven turnovers in the quarter — four of them from Rogers, who turned it over seven times overall. Nye remained scorching hot from outside and Sarah Ashlee Barker scored 12 of her 22 points in the third quarter, which ended with Alabama ahead by double digits.
“We have to go for singles and not home runs,” Purcell said. “When they start making shots like that, my team really wants it. … When you have 18 turnovers and they get 23 points off your turnovers, that’s ballgame.”
The Crimson Tide also out-hustled the Bulldogs on the offensive boards, including one instance in the third quarter when Jordan jogged toward a long rebound in the corner, only for Karly Weathers to race over and throw it off Jordan’s leg and out of bounds.
Carter, coming off a 20-point, 20-rebound effort in Thursday night’s loss against Kentucky, had another double-double with 14 boards to go with her 18 points. Powe was also a bright spot, finishing 5-for-10 from long range for her highest point total since Feb. 1, and Park-Lane remained among the conference leaders in assists with nine of them against three turnovers.
But MSU will need more than that, particularly on the defensive end, as the regular season winds to a close. Two weeks ago, the Bulldogs were seemingly playing for NCAA Tournament seeding and second place in the SEC. Now, they are back in perilous bubble territory with another challenging road trip coming up Thursday night against Auburn.
“We’re doing everything. We’re trying to stay positive, we’re trying to have an energy for them that they know we’re all fighting together,” Purcell said. “Sometimes in sports, you need a little momentum. You need some things to break your way.”
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