Alabama
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Mississippi State
Women's Basketball Falls 77-44 at Mississippi State
2/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2010
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The women's basketball team dropped a 77-44 decision Thursday night to Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum. With the loss, the Crimson Tide falls to 9-14 on the season and 1-9 in the Southeastern Conference, while the Lady Bulldogs improve to 15-8 overall and 6-4 against league opponents.
"The struggle we have right now is not scoring," said head coach Wendell Hudson. "I thought we did a lot of other things well tonight. We've just got to keep plugging. We're getting the ball exactly where we want to, but the shots just aren't falling. If you look at the stats besides shooting we really cleaned up a lot of things since the last game, but at the end of the day you have to score points."
Junior Tierney Jenkins led Alabama in scoring with 11 points, while sophomore Carmen McCoy tacked on a team-best eight rebounds for the Tide. Sophomore Ericka Russell dished out three of Alabama's seven assists.
Mississippi State jumped out to a 6-0 lead over the first 2:30 with all six points being scored by senior Chanel Mokango. Alabama got its first basket of the game at the 16:58 mark with a jumper from senior Dedrea Magee. From there, the Lady Bulldogs put together another mini-run with eight unanswered points over the next three minutes for the 14-2 lead. Mississippi State would continue to distance itself from the Tide late in the half going up by as many as 18 points. The Lady Bulldogs would hold that same edge as they entered the locker room at the half up 32-14.
Alabama and Mississippi State traded baskets to open the second, but the Lady Bulldogs quickly extended their margin by 20 with 18:25 to play in the half. With Mississippi State up 25, the Tide rattled off six consecutive points over the next 90 seconds, but the Lady Bulldogs would again respond. Alabama was able to cut its deficit to 19 but could not come any closer for the duration of the game.
The Tide suffered from poor shooting as it connected on 19-of-67 shots for the game, including an 18.8 percent, 6-of-32, effort in the first half. Mississippi State beat out Alabama on the glass as it out-rebounded the Tide 55-44. The Lady Bulldogs also had a successful night shooting the long-range ball as they hit eight shots from the three-point line.
Next up, Alabama returns home for its annual Alumni Weekend when it hosts in-state rival Auburn on Sunday, Feb. 7. Tipoff is slated for 2:00 p.m. (CST).
