Mississippi State women's basketball dominates second half in March Madness win vs Illinois
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Mississippi State women's basketball's membership in the NCAA Tournament's field of 68 has been upgraded. With a 70-56 play-in win against Illinois on Wednesday, MSU is part of the field of 64.
The 11-seeded Bulldogs (21-10), fueled by a dominant third quarter, advanced to face 6-seed Creighton (22-8) on Friday (5 p.m., ESPNEWS). The winner advances to the round of 32 to face 14-seed Southern Utah or 3-seed Notre Dame − the host team.
March Madness, built on a survive-and-advance mentality, is rarely a time for accolades. But for MSU's Sam Purcell, the victory marks his first win since being named the program's coach a year ago.
It came inside the familiar and appropriately named Purcell Pavilion as the first game of the 2023 tournament. It’s the first NCAA Tournament win for MSU since 2019.
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Jessika Carter takes advantage of mismatch
Illinois forward Kendall Bostic, who is just 6-foot-2, was given the early assignment of guarding MSU 6-5 forward Jessika Carter. Even when the Illini (22-10) went with more size, inserting 6-3 forward Geovana Lopes, there was little they could do to slow down MSU’s All-SEC second team selection.
Carter scored the game’s first four points and eight of MSU’s first 10. She scored 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the first half, helping Mississippi State secure a 31-30 lead at the break despite shooting 9-of-28 (32%) from the field to Illinois’ 14-of-29 (48%).
Carter finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
Ahlana Smith fuels third quarter surge
Guard Ahlana Smith followed Purcell, her former assistant at Louisville, to Starkville. She’s among the few players on MSU’s roster with NCAA Tournament experience, but foul trouble limited her availability in the first half.
After sitting the final 16 minutes of the opening half, Smith came out hot to ignite a massive third quarter for the Bulldogs. She didn’t score in the frame, but Smith was a plus-13 in the frame with four rebounds and two steals.
She helped force four Illinois turnovers in the period which resulted in eight points on the other end.
MSU opened the frame on an 11-2 scoring run and won the quarter 21-8 to build a comfortable lead going into the fourth.
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @skrajisnik3.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State women open March Madness, beat Illinois in First Four
