Mississippi State women edge Arkansas
Credit Mississippi State Athletics
Graduate student center Jessika Carter posted her 35th career double-double to lift Mississippi State to a 66-63 win over Arkansas inside Bud Walton Arena on Thursday.
With the road win, Mississippi State improves to 14-4 overall on the season and 1-2 in the SEC.
Carter finished with 22 points, 19 rebounds and three blocks in 32 minutes, while senior guard Jerkaila Jordan added 17 points, five rebounds and three steals in 34 minutes. The 19 rebounds surpassed a SEC high for Carter.
With a team-high seven assists tonight, Park-Lane became one of seven players in NCAA women’s basketball history to surpass 2,000 career points and 800 career assists. Park-Lane has led the team in assists in 16 of 18 contests this season.
Mississippi State started the contest on a 10-0 run that was sparked by eight points inside from Carter and Barnum. The run forced a Razorback timeout at the 5:40 mark of the first quarter and eventually helped the Bulldogs secure a 16-13 lead at the end of the first 10 minutes.
With an and-one finish on the Bulldogs’ second possession of the second quarter, Carter turned in 11 of Mississippi State’s first 21 points and increased the lead to 21-13.
Similar to the start of the contest, Mississippi State extended its lead with a run to start the frame, this time an 11-0 spurt that would last until the media timeout and make the score 27-13.
Jordan popped off a screen and knocked down a left corner three that provided Mississippi State with its largest lead of the contest at 34-19 with 1:44 left before half.
Mississippi State outrebounded Arkansas 32-18 and outscored its hosts 22-4 in points in the paint in the first half.
After a high-arcing floater from Park-Lane secured Mississippi State a 38-25 lead, Arkansas would respond with a 20-7 run over the next five minutes behind its home crowd that tied to score at 45 with 2:49 left in the third quarter.
With the score tied, Jordan swiped back-to-back steals and finished the fastbreak to secure the Bulldogs a 49-45 lead before the Razorbacks scored the final three points of the period to make the score 49-48 heading into the final quarter.
Arkansas took its first lead of the contest at 61-59 on a turnaround jumper before Carter converted on a low post and-one and knocked down the ensuing free throw to take back the lead at 62-61 with 2:31 left in regulation.
An offensive rebound from Carter and a putback closed out a 5-0 personal run and extended the score to 64-61 with 59 seconds left in regulation.
Arkansas knocked down a pair of free throws on a loose ball foul to cut its deficit to 64-63. Park-Lane would knock down one of two from the line to extend the lead to 65-63 with 16 seconds left.
Arkansas had a chance to tie or take the lead on its final possession before Carter swatted the final attempt that would touch the Razorbacks’ player and skate out of bounds to secure the Bulldogs the road win.
Mississippi State returns home to Humphrey Coliseum to host rival Ole Miss on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. on SEC Network.
