Another Fourth Quarter Collapse for Mississippi State Women's Basketball

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Mississippi State Bulldogs drop their third consecutive game in a 78-68 loss to Kentucky. MSU lost to Ole Miss on Sunday, a team they beat earlier this season, and the Bulldogs continued that trend tonight as they defeated Kentucky earlier this month.

MSU head coach Sam Purcell said foul trouble for the Bulldogs has haunted them.

"First and foremost, it starts on the free throw line. This is another game where the opposing team is in the bonus," Purcell said.

Another trend that has continued for MSU is losing despite a fourth-quarter lead, as the Bulldogs lead the Wildcats by nine after the third quarter. It was absolute domination in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats outscored MSU 24-5, including a 19-0 run.

Mississippi State had a run of its own to end the first half and at the beginning of the second half to overcome a slow start. MSU went on a 17-0 run and seemingly had firm control of the game but were unable to put the game away.

Kentucky continued to hang around, largely thanks to Ajae Petty (20) and Saniyah Tyler (22), who led the way for the Wildcats. The fourth-quarter collapse was due to careless turnovers and hot shooting from Kentucky, who went 8-14 from the field in the final quarter.

The Bulldogs committed seven turnovers in the final six minutes of regulation and shot only 2-10 from the field. Late game collapses have not been a consistent thing for Purcell as he was previously undefeated in his career at MSU when he led with under five minutes until Sunday's loss at Oxford.

A couple of weeks ago, when MSU was on their five-game winning streak, they seemed like an NCAA tournament lock, but after a trio of losses, the Bulldogs need to stack some wins.

"Just think it's that time of year, man; we're in a rut," Purcell said. "We just got to focus on one game."

Mississippi State is back in action Sunday at 4 p.m. CT on SEC Network as they travel to Alabama.

Mississippi State Women’s Basketball Falls to Kentucky 78-68.