STARKVILLE – Mississippi State women’s basketball dropped its first home contest of the season on Saturday, falling Troy, 73-66.
Rickea Jackson was the Bulldogs’ leading scorer with 26 points, eight rebounds and a pair of steals. JerKaila Jordan also chipped in across the board with 18 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.
Denae Carter was productive off the bench as well, recording her second career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
After trailing 30-37 at halftime, Mississippi State roared to life in the third quarter and closed out the third period on a 21-5 run, securing just their second lead since the opening minutes. However, Troy remained aggressive and kept the game close before ultimately pulling away late in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 15-6 over the final four minutes of the game.
The Trojans would out-rebound Mississippi State 60-39.
As a team, Mississippi State shot 33 percent from the floor and 65 percent from the charity stripe. State grabbed 39 rebounds and dished out 14 assists.
Quoting Coach Novak
“Rickea put us on her back and got us back in that game. Denae Carter did a really good job, Myah was competing. We had some guys competing during segments of that game, there was just a three or four-minute span where we were all pretty disappointed with our loose balls and chasing them down, and they were just a little bit quicker than we were.”
Up Next
Mississippi State will be back home to host Jackson State at 4 p.m. on Dec. 19 and South Carolina State at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 20.
For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU women’s basketball on Twitter, like them on Facebook, and join them on Instagram by searching for “HailStateWBK.