Women’s Basketball falls at Ole Miss Sunday

Sunday, January 16

Oxford, Miss.

2:00 p.m.

Mississippi State

11-5,2-2SEC

Ole Miss

15-2,3-1SEC

Mississippi St.

Ole Miss

Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics

Women’s Basketball falls at Ole Miss Sunday

January 16, 2022 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

By: Kelly Shipp, Assistant Director/Communications

OXFORD, Miss. – For the third time in four conference games, Mississippi State found itself playing away from Starkville. The Bulldogs traveled to Oxford, Miss., falling to Ole Miss, 86-71.

Anastasia Hayes was the Bulldogs' leading scorer, finishing with 24 points on 60% shooting. Hayes also pulled down four boards, dished out three assists and recorded three steals. Rickea Jackson returned to the starting lineup and chipped in with 22 points and five rebounds of her own to lead MSU on the glass, along with a blocked shot and a steal. Hayes and Jackson finished the game a combined 8-9 from the free-throw line.

JerKaila Jordan contributed 15 points on 78% shooting while adding four rebounds and a blocked shot. Caterrion Thompson was important off the bench for MSU, scoring 10 points with three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The Rebels had their foot on the gas from start to finish, opening the game on a 12-0 run, and the lead would continue to balloon from there. Although MSU made several attempts to get back into the game, including a massive fourth quarter where State outscored Ole Miss 31-14 and held them scoreless for the final 2:53 of regulation, the full-court press by Ole Miss on defense proved to be too much for State to overcome offensively.

MSU shot the ball well as a team, finishing at 48% from the field, 38% from three and 91% from the free-throw line. Mississippi State has now shot 75% or better from the free-throw line in four out of their last five games. State would still score 44 points in the paint and record more blocks than the Rebels despite missing their leading shot-blocker, Denae Carter. Ole Miss won the rebounding battle 43-23, with 18 of those rebounds coming on the offensive end.

Quoting Coach Novak
On the Ole Miss press
"I thought JerKaila Jordan did a great job. She knew yesterday that she was going to play the five. She battled and figured out positioning on the fly. It seemed like we were playing everybody somewhere different, which we've done before, and we've bragged about when we've been able to come out on the positive side with that - some of that length up top. We just didn't do a very good job of attacking it, spacing-wise. We needed somebody behind and somebody flashing in, and they did a great job. So, credit them, but I just didn't like our attack. I probably used all of my timeouts in that first half trying to fix it. I just couldn't quite get it done."

On the rivalry
"It wasn't a lot of fun, but a great college environment, so you have to love rivalries. Again, it did not go our way at all. I was proud that we stayed in the fight in that fourth quarter to just keep on competing because the way we started that game was not good. But [it's] a great rivalry. It's fun to play in those environments and it's misery to lose in them."

Up Next
Mississippi State will be back at home on Thursday when they host Georgia at 6 p.m. inside The Hump. State will be honoring legendary head coach Pat Summit at the game as part of the SEC's We Back Pat week, which runs from Jan. 16-24.

For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU women's basketball on Twitter, like them on Facebook, and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateWBK.

– HailState.com –