Toughness wins the Battle of Bulldogs for Mississippi State, 85-71

In the Battle of Bulldogs, Humphrey Coliseum hosted a game of runs on Thursday night.

While a tough Georgia team fired some punches, it was Mississippi State that would remain relentless. State utilized a consistent defensive effort to power through and take a tough 85-71 win and get back on track inside the rigorous SEC.

“I’ll play anybody in the country here,” Purcell said of the win. “We got punched in the mouth at South Carolina and I thought there was a toughness about us that we were able to play all four quarters that was huge. Our theme was ‘not today’.

While streaky on the offensive end, the difference for State came defensively. MSU was relentless in its fight against a big and physical UGA post. State outrebounded the visitors 36-30 and forced them into 20 turnovers which would garner 25 total points.

The paint work was where UGA wanted to make a living but MSU challenged UGA defensively. After scoring 10 points inside in the first 7 minutes of the game, the visiting Bulldogs were held to just 14 points in the paint for the next 33 minutes as it gave State the lift it needed on the other end.

“I thought we had great rotational defense where we were just going to be determined to be locked in a stance and carry it over,” Purcell said.

State counters early deficit to take over game

After MSU fell behind 18-11 with under 3 minutes remaining in the first quarter, things began to turn. State closed that quarter on a 10-0 run to take a 21-18 lead and it would not lose the lead the rest of the way.

The lead grew to as much as 11 points in the second quarter after Trayanna Crisp hit a 3-pointer with 1:16 remaining, but MSU relinquished some of that momentum. After Destiney McPhaul got blocked in the final seconds, UGA got out in transition and scored on a layup at the buzzer to cut the advantage to 43-36 at the break.

UGA would keep chopping away at the start of the third quarter and that 11-point lead would close to 43-42 after a 3-pointer. Once again, State would fight back.

MSU would go on another big run outscoring UGA 18-1 over the course of the next 7 minutes to get a lead to 61-43. Another tough close to the quarter got the visitors back within striking distance at 61-48 after three.

From there, MSU would not allow UGA to get back in the game. It closed to 10 points on multiple occasions, but State would come away with the double-digit win.

It was another team effort from State on Thursday night as McPhaul came off the bench and dropped 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting with six assists. McPhaul was especially strong in the fourth quarter as she had 10 of her points in the final 10 minutes including two dagger threes later in the game.

“I’m down to do whatever this team needs me to do to win. It’s about making sacrifices and adjustments,” McPhaul said. “The past few games have been a rollercoaster for us so we had to figure some things out. If me coming off the bench works, we’ll go with it.”

Madison Francis continued her quest for postseason honors as the freshman had 17 points on 7-of-12 with eight rebounds and another four blocked shots. The SEC’s leading shot blocker is second nationally among freshmen in blocks.

Kharyssa Richardson had 17 points and seven rebounds, Crisp finished with 11 points and four assists and Favour Nwaedozi had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

State (17-8, 4-8 SEC) shot 50% on the night with 30-fo-60 shots falling and also hit 9-of-18 from long range with a 16-of-18 night from the foul line. UGA shot 25-of-57 (44%) and 10-of-23 (43%) from three, with Rylie Theuerkauf hitting 26 points on 5-of-7 3-pointers.

Up Next

The win has State right back in the fight for an NCAA Tournament berth. MSU came into the week as a No. 9 seed in ESPN’s latest projections, and every win gets the team closer to Purcell’s third NCAA Tournament in four years.

After losing the last two ball games, this one felt sweet for the players, but it’s on to the next challenge.

“Our main thing is getting to the tournament and making sure that we get these wins,” Richardson said. “We have to win these next few games in order to get to the tournament.”

Next up, State will travel to Arkansas on Monday night at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network.