Mississippi State’s Late Scoring Drought Spoils Strong Effort in Loss to Missouri

Mississippi State did most things right against Missouri, but a late scoring drought erased a strong first half and several standout individual efforts.

Mississippi State freshman Madison Francis watches a three-pointer fall through the basket during Sunday's game against Missouri. | Mississippi State Athletics

Mississippi State put itself in position to earn a quality SEC win, but a late scoring drought proved costly in an 88-80 loss to Missouri. The Bulldogs survived a scorching first half from the Tigers and traded punches throughout, before Missouri’s late run pulled the game out of reach.

First Half Reaction

This is headed towards being a great game. The first half, at least, was fun.

Missouri shot a video game-like 72% from the field, including 5-of-9 from three-point range. That’s an incredible shooting performance and yet, the Tigers trailed by one point at halftime.

Mississippi State got off to a slow start compared to Missouri, but quickly caught fire. Kharyssa Richardson continued her hot streak, with a game-high 11 first half points. Trayanna Crisp and Jaylah Lampley combined to go 5-of-9 on three-pointers.

Crisp’s third three-pointer gave Mississippi State lead at halftime with a buzzer-beating, nothing-but-net three seconds after Missouri’s Saniah Tyler hit a three of her own.

The biggest factor in Mississippi State leading and not trailing behind a red-hot Missouri team was the eight turnovers committed by the Tigers. The Bulldogs scored 15 points off of those turnovers and only turned the ball over three times themselves.

The Bulldogs are also winning the battle at the boards. Missouri grabbed more at the start of the first half, but Mississippi State grabbed eight offensive rebounds in the second quarter alone to lead 13-11 at the break.

This is a lot easier said than done, but the Bulldogs only need to continue playing like they did in the first person to get this win. Statistically, Missouri’s not going to finish the game with a shooting percentage above 70. That number will come down.

Mississippi State is winning the rebound battle and isn’t committing turnovers in droves. Keeping shooting well and there’ll be a party in Starkville.

Second Half Reaction

Of the things listed above that Mississippi State needed to do or have happen to win, most of them happened.

Missouri’s shooting cooled off, the Bulldogs didn’t have a lot of turnovers and won the rebounding battle. What they didn’t do was keep up their own hot shooting, especially in the final minutes of the game.

Mississippi State went on a nearly three minute scoreless drought while the Tigers went on a 12-0 run after being down by four points midway through the fourth quarter. The scoring drought for Mississippi State didn’t end until there was 10 seconds left in the game and down by eight.

It was a back-and-forth game in the second half with neither team building a big lead. The loss spoils what was several great performances by the Bulldogs.

Richardson finished with a team-high 21 points, five rebounds and four assists. Crisp made six three-pointers and Madison Francis had 17 points and three three-pointers, all in the second half.

Mississippi State Top Performers

• Points: Kharyssa Richardson, 21
• Rebounds: Favour Nwaedozi, 9
• Assists: Destiney McPhaul, 9
• Steals: Kharyssa Richardson/Madison Francis, 2
• Blocks: Favour Nwaedozi, 3

Next Up

Mississippi State got a break from its gauntlet run of ranked teams Sunday, but that ends this week. The Bulldogs are set to travel to Columbia, S.C. on Thursday to face No. 2 South Carolina. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. on SEC Network.