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Bulldogs fall apart after massive first quarter, lose 69-62 at Texas Tech

3rupauk8_400x400by: Robbie Faulk2 hours agoRobbieFaulkOn3
traynna crisp2
Trayanna Crisp (Photo by Mississippi State Athletics)

It was a first quarter to remember for Mississippi State women’s basketball on the road at Texas Tech.

The Bulldogs were firing on all cylinders as they racked up a 31-16 lead. That would be the highlight of the game.

Over the next three quarters, State fell apart offensively, and the Red Raiders took full advantage. The 15-point lead vanished quickly, and State would drop its first game of the year with a  69-62 loss.

“First quarter I wanted to see what kind of team I had in this atmosphere but the second quarter we missed so many shots,” coach Sam Purcell said. “We put so much value in layups in open threes that we didn’t instill the toughness.”  

After the dominant first quarter, the Bulldogs struggled mightily on the offensive end. The Bulldogs scored the 31 points through the first 10 minutes and had just one turnover as they built that lead. But over the course of the next three frames, State couldn’t even outscore that first frame as it had 31 total points and turned the ball over an incredible 21 times.

State finished the game with 22 turnovers and shot just 20-of-53 from the field with a 5-of-16 mark from three. The Bulldogs had made 3-of-7 threes in the first quarter but missed nine in a row at one point.  

The Bulldogs had one of the worst quarters in school history immediately following that 31-point first as they had just two points the entire 10 minutes of the second. State scored 12 in the third and had a  narrow 45-43 lead. TTU would outscore State 26-17 in the final quarter.

Destiney McPhaul and Trayanna Crisp had 12 points each but the two bookended their scoring. Crisp scored 10 of her points in the first quarter with McPhaul scoring 10 in the fourth. McPhaul was 4-of-7 from the field with four rebounds and four assists. Madison Francis had 10 points and four rebounds in her debut as a starter before fouling out in the fourth. Favour Nwaedozi finished with nine points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing a fourth-straight double-double.

State (4-1) will look to rebound on Monday as they travel to the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Fla. The Bulldogs take on instate foe Alcorn State in the first game Monday at 1:30 p.m. and then will turn around and play the winner of Middle Tennessee State and Providence on Tuesday at a time to be determined. Both games can be seen on FloSports.

“With a new group, this will be something hopefully we can learn. We may come back to this game and say we don’t win a game down the road without this Texas Tech game,” Purcell said. “That’s an NCAA Tournament team that we just played. You allow them the big time plays because we didn’t finish what we needed to in the first half. We’ve got to be a four-quarter team.”

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