Alabama’s momentum from a three-game winning streak and a late second-half surge was not enough to overcome a strong first half from Mississippi State as the Tide fell to the Bulldogs in its final home game of the season, 68-55.
The loss to the Bulldogs snapped Alabama’s three game winning streak in the Southeastern Conference.
Head coach Wendell Hudson’s team was hindered by another slow start to the game.
“The first 10 minutes of this game, we did not play very well,” Hudson said. “[Mississippi] State really took the fight to us. It took the fight out of us and took away our home-court advantage.”
After 12 minutes of the first half, the Bulldogs scorched the Tide with 52.9 percent shooting. Alabama hit yet another slump in this game, going 3-for-14 in the last eight minutes of the half, while Mississippi State ended the half at 50 percent shooting. Alabama also allowed Mississippi State to score 15 points off turnovers in the first half, where the Tide only got five.
Reigning SEC Player of the Week Ericka Russell single-handedly kept the Tide in the game for the first half. She had 13 points in the first half alone. She was matched stride-for-stride by the Bulldog’s top scorer, Mary Kathryn Govero, who also had 13 points in the first half.
“We didn’t play with any intensity in the first half,” Russell said. “We didn’t play Alabama basketball like we have the last few games.”
The Russell-Govero match-up proved to be of importance in the second half as well. In the first 11 minutes of the second half, Govero had eight points while Russell was scoreless. In that 11 minutes, the Bulldogs were able to build up a 52-40 lead.
The Tide did not falter in the face of that 12-point deficit, as demonstrated by senior Tierney Jenkins’ getting an offensive rebound and nine points in just more than a minute and a half. Jenkins finished the game with 17 points and 17 rebounds, her 19th double-double on the year.
The Tide fought its way back to a five-point deficit with only 2:49 remaining in the game. All hopes for an Alabama comeback were ended when Bulldog guard Diamber Johnson made a 3-pointer on the Bulldog’s next possession. She then followed that with another basket and three free throws, giving the Bulldogs a 12-point lead with 34 seconds left.
“[Johnson’s scoring] was definitely a big momentum shift,” Jenkins said. “It wasn’t the only thing that hurt us in this game, but it did hurt.”
The Tide felt as if it could not lose coming off of the three-game winning streak.
“We definitely felt like, since we won at Auburn and went to [Mississippi State’s] place and beat them, that no matter how bad we played we couldn’t lose,” Jenkins said. “But that’s something we can learn from and get better about.”
As for the Tide’s upcoming season finale at Arkansas, Hudson feels the team will be able to put the hard loss behind them and focus on the task at hand.
“I think they’re a resilient bunch,” Hudson said. “We’ll come back, practice tomorrow, practice Saturday and head to Fayetteville to try and get the win before the SEC tournament.”
