SEC Tournament Bracket
* Updated Player Bios (PDF) STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs (6-21, 1-13 SEC)have been seeded 12th in the 2006 SEC Tournament, facing 5th-seed Florida(20-7, 8-6 SEC) on Thursday, March 2 at 6:30 p.m. CT in the first game ofthe night session. This will mark just the third time that the two teamshave met in the tournament splitting the previous two meetings, 1-1.
The Lady Bulldogs most recently fell to third-ranked LSU on Sunday, 62-48.State held the Tigers to their second lowest point total this season behindtheir 48 points in the loss to Connecticut. Freshman guard/forward RobinPorter led the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points and nine rebounds, just shy ofher fourth double-double. Senior forward Mamie McKinney totaled aseason-high 14 points and seven rebounds, five offensive, in the loss.
Lady Bulldog leading scorer Porter was just named to the SEC All-FreshmanTeam. She is averaging 10.7 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game inher first year with the Maroon and White.
State leads the overall series with Florida, 16-14. MSU has won four out ofthe last six meetings with UF. The Gators took the meeting earlier thisseason in Starkville, 63-48. The series is tied, 1-1, when meeting in theSEC Tournament. The two previous meetings came in the 1980s. Florida wasState's first opponent in the inaugural SEC Tournament in Knoxville, Tenn.,losing 68-62. MSU would take one back in the 1988 tournament in Albany,Ga., 67-46.
Since the last meeting between the two schools on Feb. 9, the Gators havebeen on a hot streak going 3-2, including the win over MSU. Florida hasdefeated top five ranked LSU and Tennessee both in overtime at the end ofregular season. Three Gators are averaging double digits to lead UF:Dalila Eshe is leading the team with 14.3 points per game and 7.3 reboundsper game, followed by Sha Brooks with 13.3 ppg and Brittany Davis with 12.4ppg.
MSU is 11-26 overall in the tournament. The Lady Bulldogs have an 8-17First Round record, advancing to the Second Round nine times (2-7), to theSemifinals twice (1-1) and Finals once (0-1). The last time that State wasseeded 12th in the tournament was 1994 when they lost to Ole Miss in thefirst round, 100-64, in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Lady Bulldogs exited fromthe tournament early last season, falling to Arkansas, 80-73, in the firstround in Greenville, S.C. The last win in the conference postseason was vs.Arkansas in the 2004 first round, 79-74.
The SEC will honor MSU's Great Polly Branch Pund (1982-87) at halftime ofThursday's game. Pund became the first Lady Bulldog to contribute both asan athlete and an assistant coach for the Mississippi State women'sbasketball program. During her playing career she became the fourth LadyBulldog to reach 1,000 career points, still sitting in sixth place on theall-time chart with 1,518 total. She continues to rank fifth in assists(391), ninth in steals (159) and 10th in blocks (40), 18 years aftergraduating.
