Women's Hoops Closes Out Regular Season, Hosting Auburn On Sunday For Senior Day At 3 P.M.
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STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs (16-10, 5-8 SEC) host the Auburn Tigers (15-11, 6-7 SEC) on "Senior Day" Sunday, Feb. 27 at 3 p.m. CT. In the last regular season home game of the year, MSU will be honoring two senior managers in Jamone Edwards and Crystal Jackson and four Lady Bulldogs, guard Tiania Burns, guard Ebonie Ferguson, forward Rebecca Kates and guard Tan White, in their last home game with the Maroon and White.
State comes into the game suffering a 78-56 loss at No. 5 Tennessee this past Thursday. Playing without junior forward Mamie McKinney, who sat out due to a subluxed patella, State kept the score consistently within single digits until the 7:06 mark of the second half. With height being a UT advantage, the Lady Vols recorded 23 second chance points in the paint and went 17-for-23 from the free throw line for the win.
White was the lone Lady Bulldogs in double digits with 19 points. In the first half, she recorded her three steals needed to become the SEC's all-Time Career Steals leader with now a total of 361 in her 118th game with State. The Tupelo, Miss.-native has led the SEC in scoring for the entire season, sitting at 22.6 points per game second best in the nation.
Two-year starter senior Burns is second on the team with 10.7 points per game. She is two points shy of 700 career points in just her second year with the Maroon and White. Fellow starter senior Kates will be playing in her 119th game for MSU. She is leading the team in three-point field goal percentage at .411 going 39-for-95 from behind the arc. Sixth man senior Ferguson has seen action in all 26 games this year, third on the team with 36 three-pointers made.
Auburn leads the overall series 26-11 and the Tigers are 9-8 in Starkville. Despite losing the last meeting at Auburn, 80-53, MSU has won seven of the last 12 meetings, including the last five straight encounters in Starkville.
Auburn has won six out of its last nine conference games, including its most recent defeat of Ole Miss, 82-68. Senior guard Natasha Brackett is leading the Tigers 16.9 ppg, while senior guard Louise Emeagi has 12.0 ppg and senior guard Nicole Louden is recording 10.0 ppg.