Mississippi State fell to Alabama 87-75 inside Coleman Coliseum on Sunday. Mississippi State is now 20-9 and 7-7 in the SEC.
Graduate student center Jessika Carter finished with her 13th double-double of the season on 18 points and 14 rebounds in 33 minutes, while sophomore guard Debreasha Powe added 15 points behind five triples from behind the arc in 35 minutes.
It marked Powe’s fifth career contest and second this season with five or more made threes.
The two teams traded baskets throughout the initial portion of the first quarter before the first of two first-half threes from senior guard Darrione Rogers made the score 18-16 in favor of the Crimson Tide at the media timeout.
Alabama concluded the opening 10 minutes on a 7-0 run to secure a 25-16 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Trailing 29-20, Mississippi State went on a 7-0 run of its own that forced an Alabama timeout and cut its deficit back to one possession with 6:37 minutes left in the second quarter. A floating finish from graduate student guard Lauren Park-Lane secured Mississippi State its first lead of the contest at 31-30.
Carter backed down her defender and finished inside to extend Mississippi State’s lead to 34-31 at the 3:56 mark of the second frame, but the two teams continued to go back-and-forth on the offensive end with Alabama ultimately leading 40-37 entering halftime.
Mississippi State scored the first five points out of the locker room to secure a 42-40 lead only 46 seconds into the second half. Alabama took back the lead for the final time on the next possession with a three from the top of the arc.
Alabama opened its largest lead of the game at 73-55 and fought off Mississippi State’s late comeback attempt in the fourth quarter for the eventual final.
Mississippi State remains on the road to take on Auburn inside Neville Arena on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
