Mississippi State Women's Basketball Starters Shine in 82-72 Win Over Jackson State

Four Mississippi State Bulldogs scored 17-plus points apiece.

The Mississippi State women's basketball team defeated Jackson State xx-xx on Thursday night, behind four starters scoring 17-plus points

Just like in her previous game against Kennesaw State, forward Jessika Carter kicked off the night, as she tallied six points, four rebounds and two blocks in the first quarter alone. Nevertheless, the rest of the Bulldogs started somewhat slow in the first 10 minutes, as they went into the break up 19-17.

Driving into the paint and drawing fouls was a common theme for Mississippi State in the first quarter, but its 4-of-8 conversions from the free throw line and small margin after 10 minutes made them switch things up in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs started taking more jump shots to start in the period, and it worked to near perfection. Jackson State called a timeout with 6:21 remaining, as Mississippi State had already scored 16 points compared to the Tigers' six. This time, forward Debreasha Powe and guards JerKaila Jordan and Erynn Barnum took over the quarter, as they combined for 34 points, and led Mississippi State to a 44-33 halftime lead.

Jordan and Carter played crucial roles in the second quarter as they provided the team with second-chance points after collecting a combined five of the team's nine offensive rebounds. Additionally, guard Lauren Park-Lane focused on distributing the ball by going into halftime with a team-high six assists. Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell didn't use the bench often, as Mjracle Sheppard and Darrione Rodgers were the only members of the group that played on Thursday night.

Jackson State stormed back offensively in the third quarter, as they scored 21 points with many coming from guard Angel Jackson. However, Mississippi State stayed true to their shooting numbers and logged 23 points. The main four scorers continued to spread the ball around and score at will, and went into the final period up 67-54.

The fourth quarter drew some similarities to the third, but both teams started to miss a few shots and make mistakes. That said, Mississippi State held strong on the defensive end to create a comfortable margin late.

Perhaps the top highlight of the final 10 minutes was Jordan's 17th point, as it was her 1,000 at Mississippi State.

An argument could be made that Carter was the player of the game for the second consecutive contest, as she recorded 17 points and 18 rebounds, including an astonishing 11 boards. Jordan, Barnum and Powe combined for 57 points and Park-Lane tallied eight assists, which was by far the most on the team.