Lady Bulldogs Host South Carolina Thursday In Pivotal Senior Night Game
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- With postseason implications on the line, the Mississippi State women's basketball team will close out its regular season home slate on Thursday when they play host to South Carolina at the Humphrey Coliseum. Game time is set for 7 p.m. CT and four seniors will be honored prior to their final regular season game at home.
The Lady Bulldogs (19-8, 6-6), return home after falling at then 13th-ranked Tennessee this past Sunday. State currently stands in sixth place in the Southeastern Conference standings and with two regular season games remaining, MSU can finish as high as fifth and no lower than eighth in the final standings.
Junior guard Alexis Rack continues to lead Mississippi State in scoring, averaging 14.7 points a game. With six three-point field goals at Tennessee, Rack became MSU's all time leader in three-pointers with 223. The Franklin, La.,-native currently ranks fifth in the SEC in scoring, fifth in assists and leads the league in free-throw percentage and three-point field goals a game. Junior Armelie Lumanu is averaging 11.6 points a game and is averaging 5.8 rebounds a contest. She leads State with 64 steals this season and is second on the team in assists with 101 to date.
South Carolina is 10-15 overall this season and are 2-10 in SEC play. Led by first year head coach Dawn Staley, the Gamecocks are coming off a loss at Florida last Sunday. USC is hampered by the loss of seniors Brionna Dickerson and Demetress Adams who are out for the year with injuries. USC is led in scoring by freshman Lakeisha Sutton who is averaging 11.0 points a game. The lone active senior on the USC roster is C.J. Pace who is scoring 7.5 points a game and leads the team in rebounds, pulling down 5.9 an outing.
Mississippi State will close out its regular season in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Sunday as they take on Alabama at UA's Coleman Coliseum. That contest is set to tip at 2 p.m. The Lady Bulldogs will then prep for SEC Tournament play which runs March 5-8 at the Alltel Arena in North Little Rock, Ark.