STARKVILLE — Jerkaila Jordan’s Sunday afternoon started with Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell leading the Humphrey Coliseum crowd in a chant of “one more year” as Jordan was honored on Senior Day before the Bulldogs’ game against Missouri.
It ended with her being subbed out alongside fifth-years Jessika Carter, Erynn Barnum and Lauren Park-Lane to a standing ovation in the final minute of MSU’s 90-75 win, a necessary victory over the last-place Tigers on the heels of a five-game skid. In between, Jordan may well have saved the Bulldogs’ postseason hopes from the brink of death.
She committed two fouls and missed a breakaway layup in the first quarter, sitting out for almost 14 minutes until the start of the second half, but as the freshest player on the court in the third quarter, Jordan entered a zone she hadn’t been in since the win over defending national champion LSU in late January. With 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting in the quarter, Jordan took MSU (21-10, 8-8 Southeastern Conference) from a halftime deficit to a 12-point lead.
“I was warm. I didn’t really touch the court,” Jordan said. “At halftime, (Purcell) just looked at me and he said, ‘You better not be tired.’ So I just went out there, I probably had the most energy because I was in foul trouble; I didn’t play the second quarter. So just going out there and using that to my advantage knowing I had extra endurance.”
Jordan had battled an illness during the Bulldogs’ losing streak and nearly missed the loss at Ole Miss on Feb. 18, but was back to full health Sunday following a poor shooting night Thursday at Auburn. After being held scoreless in her four-minute first-quarter stint, she came out after halftime intent on taking over the game, with a short jumper in the paint, a midrange pull-up and a transition 3-pointer to tie the game all in the first three minutes of the third.
The Tigers (11-18, 2-14) responded to go back in front by five, but MSU closed the quarter on a 21-4 run that featured 11 more points from Jordan and a pair of big 3-pointers by sixth woman Darrione Rogers, who matched Jordan with 22 points and finished 6-for-8 from deep.
Grad transfer point guard Park-Lane, in her final game at Humphrey Coliseum, was effective as both a scorer and a distributor with 18 points and nine assists, helping the Bulldogs overcome a rough second quarter in which they shot 1-for-8 from behind the arc. MSU did not miss from distance in the second half and made 12 of 16 field goals in that 28-point third quarter.
“It didn’t even look like (Purcell) was breathing when there were four minutes left in the game,” Park-Lane said. “His face was bloodshot red. But I understand, we desperately needed this win and we all felt it. The key word of the week has been ‘urgency,’ and I think we came out with that urgency today.”
For as well as the Bulldogs were making shots throughout the game, though, Missouri was exceeding MSU’s pace in the first half. The hosts struggled to stop the Tigers’ dribble drives and entry passes and were outscored 16-0 in the paint in the opening quarter. Hayley Frank led the visitors with 18 points, Ashton Judd added 17 and point guard Mama Dembele, who edged Park-Lane for the conference lead in assists per game, had 16 points and seven dimes.
The Bulldogs’ perimeter defense was excellent, though, as they held the SEC’s second-best 3-point shooting team to just 25 percent from long range. Jordan was a big part of that effort in the second half as well, finishing with four steals.
“We were disappointed by the way we played at Auburn. I looked in the mirror and it starts with me,” Purcell said. “I’m the head coach and I have to take accountability. So for us to get rid of any pointing fingers or listening to the outside noise… I couldn’t be more of a proud coach, and most importantly, proud that we could end this the right way for our fans at home in the regular season.”
Missouri scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to undoubtedly set off a twinge of panic among the folks in maroon, but Park-Lane scored seven straight for MSU to extend the margin back to double digits. Thanks mostly to Rogers, the Bulldogs’ bench outscored that of the Tigers 34-6.
MSU will be the No. 8 seed in the SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C. and will take on No. 9 seed Texas A&M in a second-round game at 11 a.m. central time on Thursday. The Bulldogs defeated the Aggies by 11 in College Station in the teams’ only regular-season meeting on Feb. 4.
“For everything that’s been happening, these kids have never quit,” Purcell said. “There’s been fight in them all year. We’ve been sick, we’ve been banged up, we’ve had seven players, we haven’t had a full roster. Are we happy how the month has ended? No, but tonight was a night to show everybody, ‘We’re not done, it’s not a funeral.’ We’ve got more basketball to play ahead of us, but most importantly, we needed to send these seniors out right.”
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