Mississippi State’s Kourtney Weber (11) drives against Texas A&M’s Janiah Barker (2) during an SEC women’s basketball tournament game on Thursday. Texas A&M defeated Mississippi State 79-72. (Todd Van Emst/The Southeastern Conference)
The first big upset of the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament sent Mississippi State packing. Sydney Bowles scored a game-high 19 points, Aaliyah Patty had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 13 seed Texas A&M took down No. 5 seed Mississippi State 79-72 in a second-round game on Thursday. Mississippi State (20-10) had beaten Texas A&M (9-19) twice in the regular season. Now it will wait 10 days to find out its NCAA Tournament fate while the Aggies try to continue a Cinderella run in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon at 1:30 against No. 4 seed Ole Miss.
The first big upset of the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament sent Mississippi State packing. Sydney Bowles scored a game-high 19 points, Aaliyah Patty had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 13 seed Texas A&M took down No. 5 seed Mississippi State 79-72 in a second-round game on Thursday. Mississippi State (20-10) had beaten Texas A&M (9-19) twice in the regular season. Now it will wait 10 days to find out its NCAA Tournament fate while the Aggies try to continue a Cinderella run in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon at 1:30 against No. 4 seed Ole Miss.
Mississippi State went nearly 7 1/2 minutes in the second quarter without scoring, and was 1-for-11 from the field in the period. The five points it scored were the fewest it has had in a quarter all season. Mississippi State cut a 10-point deficit of its own to three late in the fourth quarter, with Debreasha Powe’s layup cutting it to 73-70 with 2:01 remaining. A clutch 3-pointer by McKinzie Green with 1:18 to go pushed it back to six, however, and the Aggies kept Mississippi State at bay. Mississippi State never led in the second half.
Powe finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for the Bulldogs, and JerKaila Jordan had 12 points and eight rebounds. Jessika Carter led MSU with 18 points. “We did some things that were uncharacteristic from us,” Purcell said. “We took too many quick shots, we quit talking in ball screens, and ultimately they punched us in the face.”