Mississippi State Women's Basketball Ends Their Season in the Quarterfinals of the WBIT

The season comes to a close for the Bulldogs against Penn State.

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The Mississippi State Bulldogs end their season in the quarterfinals of the WBIT to the number one seed Penn State Nittany Lions. This was an exciting game in which both offenses took center stage. 

It started quickly, as both teams were trading baskets in the first quarter, but the Bulldogs prevailed, winning the quarter 22-21. It was much of the same in the second quarter, but Jerkaila Jordan would take over by scoring 11 points while shooting 4-8 from the field. 

However, the Nittany Lions would outscore MSU 17-16 to tie the game up going into halftime. In the last half of the third quarter, it seemed like the Bulldogs were fatigued as the Nittany Lions took a five-point lead into the fourth quarter. 

Penn State started the fourth quarter hot and, extended their lead to a dozen, and were seemingly getting whatever they wanted on offense. The Bulldogs had one final run in them and cut the lead to four, but Ashley Owusu hit the dagger as she made a jumper through a foul and sunk a free throw to extend their lead to seven. 

MSU could not recover in time despite a valiant effort as they fell 92-87. 

The Bulldogs made a good run in this tournament and have built momentum going into next season, which was the ultimate goal of competing in the WBIT. Jessika Carter played well in her final game by putting up 21 points on 8-9 shooting and grabbing eight rebounds. 

Jerkaila Jordan, who announced she was returning to Starkville for her final season last week, put on a show. The Louisiana native scored 36 points and grabbed six rebounds. 

This season did not go as planned for the Bulldogs as they missed the NCAA tournament and played inconsistent basketball throughout the year, but they have a solid core to build around going into next season. It is officially the offseason, but there is no rest for Bulldog head coach Sam Purcell, who will likely be busy recruiting the portal as soon as he arrives back in Starkville.