After three overtime games in the past 10 days Mississippi State needed to find a way to outlast Missouri to keep its season alive.
The Bulldogs got the jolt they needed from reserve guard Jerica James. She had four points and a key steal over the final 73 seconds to send Mississippi State to a 73-70 victory in the opening game of the SEC women’s tournament at Gwinnett Arena.
No. 13-seed Mississippi State (19-12) advanced to face No. 5 Florida (18-11) in the second round Thursday.
“This is what we came for,” Bulldogs coach Vic Schaefer said. “We didn’t pack one suit. We didn’t pack one pair of underclothes. We came to play. That’s kind of been the approach all year for this team.”
Mississippi State played three consecutive overtime games from Feb. 20-27, with losses to Alabama and Kentucky and a victory against Ole Miss. After a blowout loss at Georgia on Sunday, the Bulldogs were back in another close game and made just enough plays to survive.
James made a layup to put Mississippi State up 71-68 with 1:12 to play. After Sierra Michaelis scored for Missouri, Breanna Richardson rebounded Savannah Carter’s missed 3-point try, and James was fouled with 17 seconds left.
James made her first free throw and missed the second. Missouri’s Maddie Stock rebounded, but James stole the ball and Stock fouled her with eight seconds to go.
Missouri (17-13) had a chance to tie after James missed one of two free-throw attempts, but Stock missed a 3-point attempt and Carter rebounded to run out the clock.
James scored eight points and fellow reserve Kendra Grant scored 17. Richardson, a freshman from Rockdale County High, was limited to 25 minutes because of foul trouble, but finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Senior forward Bri Kulas led the Tigers with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
“They played hard, and I thought we played hard, too,” Kulas said. “I wouldn’t question our effort tonight. This is not the way I wanted to go out, but I love my team.”
Mississippi State stayed perfect against Missouri. The Bulldogs beat Missouri 69-62 in Starkville on Jan. 26 after also winning in Columbia in Missouri’s first season in the SEC.
Each time it looked as if one team would run away with the game, the other responded. The teams traded leads 14 times, and each gave back an advantage of as many as nine points.
Ole Miss 63, Arkansas 62: Ole Miss used a 13-2 run over the final 4:14 to stun 11th-seeded Arkansas.
Ole Miss trailed 60-50, but came back to take a 61-60 lead on Gracie Frizzell’s 3-pointer with 1:13 to go. Arkansas (19-11) answered with Jessica Jackson’s jump shot with 54 seconds to play but, after an Arkansas turnover, Kenyotta Jenkins scored with four seconds left.
Jackson got a good look on the ensuing possession but missed.
The Rebels (12-19) advanced to play sixth-seeded Auburn (16-13).
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