Carter carries Bulldogs to win over Central Arkansas

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Southeastern Conference play is just around the corner for Mississippi State, but the Bulldogs had one last non-conference tune-up, facing Central Arkansas on Sunday. Judging by the play of Jessika Carter, at least one Bulldog is primed and ready to jump into the SEC slate.

Carter scored a career-high 29 points and notched her 14th career double-double by bringing down 15 rebounds as well to lead the No. 13 Bulldogs to a 72-49 victory over the Sugar Bears. It was quite a day for the junior forward.

"I think (Carter's performance) shows just how dangerous we can be," State head coach Nikki McCray-Penson said. "It's good when you have a player that can dominate the inside for us. I like to play inside-out basketball. It's really good to see her playing well going into SEC play."

Carter was 12-of-16 from the field and 5-for-9 from the free-throw line. She also had three blocks and a couple of steals.

Outside of Carter though, all was not completely well for MSU. State turned the ball over 14 times. Central Arkansas was able to get to the free-throw line for 24 shots, making 22 of them.

“I think we had lapses in the second half that wasn’t very good,” McCray-Penson said. “It wasn’t anything that (Central Arkansas) did, it was just us. It was a lack of focus and taking care of the ball. That's all it was. We’ve just got to get better at it.

"We fouled entirely too much and we have got to stop fouling. They were at the line and we can’t have a team like this go to the free-throw line like that. That’s how they scored half of their points.”

Even with the rocky moments, it was a comfortable win for the Bulldogs, who improved to 5-1. Central Arkansas fell to 2-5.

MSU took control early with a completely dominant first half. State led 22-10 after the first quarter and held the Sugar Bears to just four second-quarter points as the maroon and white led 41-14 at the half. Central Arkansas outscored the Bulldogs over the final two periods, but it was far from enough to get back in the game as MSU claimed its third-straight victory.

Now here comes the conference portion of the schedule. MSU will next play on December 31 in its SEC opener at Georgia.

Does McCray-Penson feel like State is adequately prepared for the league slate to start?

"I think it’s one day and one practice at a time," McCray-Penson said. "There are some things that we have to do and get better. If we defend and rebound, we’ll be in position to win games because we’re talented enough to do that. This league is very tough and very physical and you can’t take plays off.”

Ready or not, let the SEC games begin.

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCES

MSU head coach Nikki McCray-Penson

MSU junior forward Jessika Carter

Thank you for coming to Cowbell Corner for coverage of Mississippi State sports. Be sure to follow Cowbell Corner on Twitter (@SIBulldogs) by clicking here, and like it on Facebook by clicking here.

Add us as a preferred source on Google