COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri women’s basketball team returns to Mizzou Arena for Thursday’s showdown against Mississippi State. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast on SECN+ and KTGR.
Entering Thursday’s contest, the Tigers sport a 15-10 record overall with a 4-8 standing against SEC opposition. Mizzou dropped its latest outing, a 61-33 defeat at Arkansas on Sunday.
Senior forward Hayley Frank led Mizzou in scoring for a sixth-consecutive game, chipping in eight points on 4-of-11 shooting. She also led the Tigers with five rebounds, increasing her streak of recording at least five boards to four games.
The defense was a bright spot, forcing 21 Razorback turnovers, including 12 from the team’s leading scorer, Erynn Barnum. Her giveaway total was the most a player has committed against the Tigers this year.
Over half of the turnovers Arkansas committed came from Mizzou steals, as the Tigers secured 11 takeaways. It was the seventh time this season Mizzou’s defense reached the double-digit steal benchmark. Freshman guard Ashton Judd led the team with four steals, matching her career best.
As Mississippi State ventures up to Columbia for its 15th showdown with Mizzou, the Bulldogs lead the all-time series against the Tigers, 10-4. Recent history, however, has been split, as the last four matchups have been split 2-2.
Mizzou and Mississippi State took a game apiece last season, with each team winning its respective home game. The latter of the two contests emanated from Mizzou Arena, where the Tigers secured a 76-66 victory on Feb. 20, 2022. Frank led the Tigers with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor, while graduate guard Haley Troup supplemented with 16 points of her own.
The Bulldogs stand at 18-7 overall with a 7-5 conference resume. They are in the midst of a three-game winning streak entering Thursday, where Mississippi State handed Tennessee its second conference loss of the campaign in an overtime shootout. Following their wins over the Lady Vols, the Bulldogs took care of business against Texas A&M and Florida.
Sam Purcell leads Mississippi State in his first year as the program’s head coach. He joins the Bulldogs after nearly a decade as an assistant at Louisville. In his debut season in Starkville, Miss., Purcell has Mississippi State battling for the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2019, as the Bulldogs are currently projected as the Last Team In by Charlie Creme’s last Women’s Bracketology.
A balanced offensive attack powers the Bulldogs, as six different players average at least eight points per game. Senior forward Jessika Carter is the team’s leading scorer, contributing 14.8 points per game.
Among the top offenses in the conference, Mississippi State averages 72.2 points per game, good for the fifth-best scoring offense in the SEC. The team also knocks down 44.8 percent of its field goals, the third-highest shooting clip in the conference. Along with their shooting prowess, the Bulldogs share the ball well and average the second-most assists in the conference, with 16.2 dishes per contest.
