Georgia Falls to No. 12 MSU in SEC Opener, 69-62

Thursday, December 31

Athens, Ga.

6:30 PM

University of Georgia

8-1,0-1SEC

Mississippi State

6-1,1-0SEC

Mississippi St.

Georgia

December 31, 2020 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Stats Notes/Quotes Photo Gallery

By: Sydney Gibbs

ATHENS, Ga ----- The Georgia Lady Bulldog basketball team suffered its first loss of the season 69-62 to the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the Southeastern Conference opener Thursday night at Stegeman Coliseum.

Senior center Jenna Staiti led Georgia in both scoring and rebounding, recording her fifth double-double of the season, with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Que Morrison added 11 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Lady Bulldogs.

Georgia (8-1) forced and capitalized on eight Mississippi State (6-1) turnovers and broke out on a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter – erasing a 14-point deficit and cutting the lead to six points. Clutch free throws from Mississippi State closed the game and kept the Lady Bulldogs from marking a comeback.

"Mississippi State did a really good job of packing the paint, making it hard for us to get the ball inside, and when we did get it inside, we missed some easy shots. They're a really good team," head coach Joni Taylor said. "I think we shot too many three shots to start. We went 2-for-4 and then missed our next 10. We've got to be able to establish ourselves, and we didn't do that very well to start the game. I think our kids stayed in it. I think they fought hard. We made some corrections in the third and fourth quarters, but teams are going to press, teams are going to pick us up, and we've still got to be able to get the ball on the floor and dictate pace a little bit better than what we did tonight."

Mississippi State opened the game on an 8-2 run, but a pair of 3-pointers from Maya Caldwell and Connally kept Georgia within arm's reach.

On a fast break, Que Morrison drove through the lane for layup to give the Lady Bulldogs a 16-14 lead, forcing Mississippi State to call a timeout with 58 seconds remaining in the first period. Georgia kept that lead to close the quarter.

Mississippi State outscored the Lady Bulldogs 14-8 in the second period, holding Georgia scoreless for five minutes. Georgia only shot 20 percent from the field compared to 66 percent effort by Mississippi State, which took a slight 28-24 advantage at halftime.

In the third quarter, Mississippi State continued to outscore Georgia with a 50 percent shooting effort from the field. An aggressive 8-0 from Mississippi State in the remaining minutes of the third frame allowed them to extend its lead to 13 points.

A couple of free throws from Mikayla Coombs cut Mississippi State's double-digit lead, but Georgia still trailed, 49-38 going into the fourth quarter.

Mississippi jumped up to their largest lead of the game, 60-46 with 4:20 left in the game. With 1:28 remaining, Connally went 2-of-2 from the free throw line to cut Georgia's deficit to only two possessions. The Lady Bulldogs could not get any closer as Mississippi State won their fourth straight game.