Arkansas too much for MSU women’s hoops

AYETTEVILLE, Ark. (MSU Athletics) – Mississippi State was unable to overcome a strong second-half by the Razorbacks, falling 74-54 in Fayetteville.

Anastasia Hayes finished as the Bulldogs’ leading scorer Sunday, tallying 17 points to go along with three rebounds and two steals. Hayes ended the game shooting 50% from the field. Rickea Jackson chipped in with eight points, four rebounds, and two blocked shots in her 38 minutes.

Despite early foul trouble, Denae Carter led the Bulldogs in rebounding and blocked shots, finishing with eight rebounds and three blocks. Caterrion Thompson was big off the bench for MSU today, scoring 11 points with three 3-pointers and four rebounds and a steal.

Following a 28-28 first half, Arkansas began to catch fire from three. After making just three 3’s in the first half, the Razorbacks opened the 3rd quarter with three in less than 4 minutes to take a 9-point advantage. The Bulldogs struggled to match the scoring efforts of Arkansas in the second half, as the Razorbacks outscored the Bulldogs 46-26 in the final 20 minutes of the game, before walking away with the 74-54 victory.

Quoting Coach Novak

On Arkansas’ strong second half

“They are good. When they have the numbers and the advantages, they take advantage of it. Then we get maybe one shot, and in some ways, the second half spacing offensively was better than the first, we just didn’t take advantage of some of those open shots that we needed to hit. You always get judged by the final result, but in some ways, that second half offensively for us was better than the first. Defensively, they were both about a ‘C’ because I thought they just missed a lot of shots in the first half, rather than us actually stopping them.”

Up Next

Mississippi State will play back-to-back games at home against Missouri on Thursday, Jan. 27 and Texas A&M on Sunday, Jan. 30. Tip-off against Mizzou is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

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