Mississippi State women win Van Chancellor Classic

Credit Mississippi State Athletics

Senior guard Darrione Rogers and sophomore guard Debreasha Powe each poured in 20-plus points and combined for 12 threes to lead Mississippi State to a 102-58 win over Tulsa at the Merrell Center on Sunday.

With the win, Mississippi State was crowned the 2023 Van Chancellor Classic champion and remains unbeaten at 8-0. The 8-0 start ties the best start for the program since 2019-20.

Powe finished with a career-high 24 points on 9-16 from the field and 6-13 from three in 29 minutes. It marked the second career 20-plus point game for Powe and the six made threes ties her career high. Rogers added 22 points on 7-11 from the field and 6-9 from three, in addition to five rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes.

Rogers made her first start as a Bulldog in the contest and the 18th time in her career that she has hit the 20-point mark.

Mississippi State connected on 14 threes in the effort, which tied the most since the Bulldogs also hit 14 against Missouri on Jan. 27, 2022.

Graduate student guard Lauren Park-Lane and senior guard Jerkaila Jordan were each named to the All-Tournament Team. Park-Lane finished with a pair of point-assist double-doubles over the tournament, most recently a 14 points-10 assist performance against Tulsa, while Jordan averaged 18.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists on 48.9 percent from the field over the three-game stretch.

Jordan has now scored in double-figures in all eight games this season.

Rogers connected on a trio of first-quarter threes to score 11 of her 22 points in the first 10 minutes. After Tulsa knocked down a transition three to take a 5-2 lead, Rogers answered back with the first three in the midst of her first-quarter barrage to even the score at five.

The early 5-2 advantage would be the only time that Tulsa would lead in the game after Mississippi State’s suffocating defense forced their opponent into five turnovers to take an early 26-15 lead at the end of the first.

Mississippi State would continue its offensive onslaught in the second quarter as the Bulldogs connected on 62.5 percent from the field in the second quarter to take a 50-32 lead into the half.

After Tulsa scored right out of the locker room, Mississippi State would use a 14-0 run over the next three minutes of action to command a 64-38 lead.

Mississippi State hit the century mark when freshman guard Mjarcle Sheppard swiped the ball in the passing lane and finished a fast-break layup to extend the margin to 100-57. It is the second time in head coach Sam Purcell’s tenure that Mississippi State has hit the 100-point mark.

The remainder of regulation would feature more of the same as a fast-break finish from freshman guard Jasmine Brown-Hagger with 42 seconds left in regulation built the largest lead of the game at the eventual final score and marked all 9 active Bulldogs in points.

Mississippi State will host RV/RV Miami (Fla.) in the inaugural SEC/ACC Challenge on Wednesday inside Humphrey Coliseum at 6:15 p.m.