State Women Return To Conference Play, Travel To Gainesville To Face Florida
Mississippi State leads the overall series with Florida, 16-15. In games played in Gainesville, the Gators lead 8-5 and have won three out of the last five played there. In the last five games in the overall series, UF holds a 3-2 lead. The last MSU win in Gainesville came on Feb. 2, 2003 (83-54). Florida won both meetings last season (63-48 at MSU and 98-83 in the SEC Tournament in North Little Rock, Ark.). State has not defeated Florida since 2004.
The Lady Bulldogs are already 1-0 on the year against the state of Florida, having defeated Florida State, 65-60 in overtime on Nov. 30. All-time against the Sunshine State, MSU is 24-18. Other Florida schools MSU has faced include Stetson, Central Florida and Florida A&M.
In Thursday night's win over Savannah State, sophomore forward Lauren Roberts scored a season-high 12 points and was just one of three Lady Bulldogs to score in double-digits in the win. Junior forward Imesia Jackson led all scorers with 25, while freshman guard Alexis Rack scored11 points for her sixth straight double-digit scoring outing.
The Lady Bulldogs dished out a season-high 22 assists against Savannah State. The last time MSU dished out 22 assists was Dec. 16, 2003 againstUT- Martin. MState's 87.5 percent (21-for-24) from the charity strip against Savannah State is the highest single-game free throw percentage put up by the Lady Bulldogs this season.
State continues to rank in the top half of the SEC in several statistical categories. In overall games, the Lady Bulldogs are second in three-point field goal percentage defense (.290), fourth in three-point field goals made (5.58), fifth in offensive rebounds (15.38) and sixth in field goal percentage defense (.386). In overall individual categories, sophomore guard Marneshia Richard is fifth with 2.38 steals per game.
In league games only, MState is second in three-point field goal percentage (.353) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.271), fourth in free-throw percentage (.699), fifth in scoring offense (68.4) and sixth in offensive rebounds (14.33). Richard is third in conference games in steals (2.56) and sixth in assists (4.0) and field goal percentage (.532). Freshman guard Alexis Rack is second in three-point field goals made (2.33), while freshman forward Tysheka Grimes is sixth in three-point field goal percentage (.429).
Florida enters Sunday's contest 6-19 overall and still in search of their first conference win of the season (0-10). Sophomore guard Sha Brooks, a preseason all-SEC First Team selection, leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.6 points per game. Junior guard Depree Bowden(13.6) and sophomore forward Marshae Dotson (13.5) also average double figures for the Gators.
Despite not having a win in conference play, Florida has fought during their last three contests, losing all three by an average of 10 points. LSU defeated the Gators in their previous contest, 66-79, in Baton Rouge. In their last two contests, senior forward Brianana Phillips has been hot, averaging 18.0 points in each of those games. Against Kentucky, Phillips tallied a career-high 23 points. In addition to being second on the team in scoring, Bowden leads the Gators in the majority of statistical categories, including rebounding (7.6), assists (2.7) and steals (2.4).
MSU is 18-34 all-time on television. In MState's only other televised contest this season, the Lady Bulldogs fell to Georgia 61-74 and defeated Arkansas, 80-75, both at Humphrey Coliseum. State has faced Florida only one other time on SUN Sports, on Feb. 18, 2001. The Lady Bulldogs won 79-75.