Bend, But Never Break
February 07, 2023 | Women's Basketball, Joel Coleman
Coach Sam Purcell’s Bulldogs’ resiliency is rewarded.
STARKVILLE – Head coach Sam Purcell's voice echoed throughout the Humphrey Coliseum.
It was Monday night and his Mississippi State women's basketball team had just punched, scratched, clawed and earned every bit of a 91-90 double-overtime win over Tennessee. It was a game that in many ways encapsulated the previous several days for the Bulldogs.
There were tough times. There were hard moments.
But tough times don't last. Tough people do. And Purcell's comments as he spoke into a microphone postgame told his team's story of toughness in seven succinct words.
"We might bend, but we ain't breaking," Purcell said to the applause of the Bulldog family that'd just helped lift their team to victory.
Bend, but don't break. Get knocked down but get right back up.
A lot of folks preach those themes. At this point, it's obvious that type of resiliency is embedded within Purcell and his Bulldogs.
For anyone who didn't know or forgot, Tuesday's marathon served as a three-hour reminder that there isn't one single ounce of quit in the Dawgs. Count them out at your own risk.
Come what may, this State team doesn't stop. The win over Tennessee put that on full display.
"Looks can be deceiving, but this team is tough for real," junior guard JerKaila Jordan said. "We've overcome a lot. We never gave up on ourselves. And we did have moments [against Tennessee] where we could've just put our heads down. Sometimes free throws didn't fall, or calls didn't go our way. We could've easily put our heads down. But we've learned from the past mistakes, and we weren't coming out with a loss [on Monday]."
Just like when MSU bounced back from a couple of heartbreaking non-conference losses and when State turned a 1-3 SEC start into an impressive three-game winning streak, the Bulldogs once again rose like the mythical phoenix over the course of the game versus the Lady Vols.
The secret? Guard Anastasia Hayes emphasized the never-give-up mentality of herself and her teammates came from a total reliance on each other.
"We were all in it together," Hayes said. "We were one. We never put our heads down. We told each other that we fought too hard to lose the game."
Everyone certainly played a part. Jordan scored a team-leading 24 points. Asianae Johnson added 16, including a clutch six during a key fourth-quarter stretch. Hayes totaled 14. In all, nine different Bulldogs scored four or more points.
Jordan and Hayes combined for 14 rebounds from their guard spots. Ahlana Smith paced State with four assists. Denae Carter returned from a knee injury after missing several weeks and accounted for one of MSU's five blocks.
But don't let the stat sheet tell you the whole story. It doesn't. Each and every person in Maroon and White played a role, some in ways numbers will never explain.
"I feel like we leaned on each other and each and everybody is important on this team," Hayes said. "I feel like everybody stepped up. Everybody – whether it was leading on the bench or talking or being positive – I feel like everybody did that. I feel like we fought so hard to win that game, we couldn't lose."
Purcell said he saw his club's commitment to each other during one particular timeout.
"They were leaning on each other," Purcell said. "I think I had 30 seconds, and I got no words in. But at that point, I didn't need to say anything. Like I've told them all year, it's player-led. They know what's up. My job when they get to that point is, I've got the best seat in the house so get out of the way… There was a look between every single one of my young women that we were not going to be denied."
And they weren't.
State's tenaciousness provided the team with the school's first double-overtime win in nine years. More importantly, it gave MSU its first Top-20 NET win of the season, boosting the Bulldogs' NCAA Tournament resume in the process.
In fact, as of Tuesday morning's latest projections from ESPN's Charlie Creme, Mississippi State is in the field for March's big dance.
Despite disappointments at Ole Miss and Georgia and despite so many chances to get frustrated and fail against Tennessee, Mississippi State kept its head up, kept punching and now controls its own destiny as the season hits the stretch run.
There'll surely be more adversity in the days ahead. Bumps in the road are a given in the ultra-tough SEC. Once again, MSU might even bend a little.
But this team won't break. They've proven it time and time and time again, and if it ever slips your mind, just flash back to an unforgettable Monday night at The Hump.
