Mississippi State Women's Basketball Loses 75-64 To Tennessee

The Bulldogs fall to 2-3 in conference play.

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Mississippi State was riding high after a pair of conference wins over Arkansas and Ole Miss, but the SEC will always humble you. This game is undoubtedly a tale of two halves as the Bulldogs held a seven-point going into halftime.

Tennessee came out of the locker room and took complete control of the game in the third as they outscored the Bulldogs 21-5. MSU could not find any offense in the third quarter, and the Volunteers played excellent defense. MSU head coach Sam Purcell said Tennessee changing the game style made the difference as the Bulldogs faltered in the third quarter.

"I thought they were very physical. I thought they allowed the game to get really tough," Purcell said.

A bright spot for the Bulldogs was the performance of former Arkansas transfer Erynn Barnum. Barnum had a double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, including six big offensive rebounds. Purcell was pleased with Barnum's performance.

"I thought she was great. I'm excited for her, just hate it happened during a loss," Purcell said.

The key stat in this game was the discrepancy in the second chance points. The Volunteers had 19 second chance points compared to the Bulldogs, who only had seven.

Former Bulldog transfer Rickea Jackson had a game-high 19 points and seemed always to hit a shot as MSU attempted to make a run. Jackson has missed eight of the Vols' 20 games, and the Vols are a different team when the 6-2 forward is on the court.

The Bulldogs' next two games are against Florida and defending national champion LSU, and the Bulldogs need to flush this loss quickly ahead of the next two games. Purcell understands how challenging the SEC is and how important it is for MSU to bounce back.

"So I know again, everybody's legit," Purcell said. "I just want to make sure that we get our swagger and our fight back….. and have a short-term memory, and we got to have a dog mentality and bounce back." 

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