Box Score With a second half push the Alabama State women's basketball still fell to the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Saturday at the Humphrey Coliseum.
 
In the first half Mississippi State (9-1) took a quick 11-0 run with 16:12 left on the clock.  The Lady Hornets finally got on the board at the 15:50 mark on a jumper by Brittney Smith who came off the bench for Alabama State (4-2).  The Bulldogs continued their run going up seven more points (20-2) with 12:39 left on the clock.  The Lady Hornets scored again at the 12:21 mark making the score 20-4 on a jumper by Danielle Gazaway.  Alabama State would go into the half down 27 points (39-12).


"We got off to a very slow first half," said Head Coach Freda Freeman-Jackson.  "I thought my girls were a little intimidated by Mississippi State, being that they are a SEC school.  We just didn't do the things that we know we are capable of doing.  We had way too many turnovers and that has a lot to do with your confidence level.  We as coaches and players need to understand no matter who we play you must do the things that we know we are capable of."
 
Alabama State was led in scoring by freshmen Kayla Tucker with eight points and Brittney wright who had seven points and ten rebounds.   While junior Ashunte Smith also added seven points and five rebounds.
 
"In the second half I felt like we outscored them (Mississippi State)," Freeman-Jackson said.  "I thought that the new players did a really good job of stepping in playing hard.  The one thing about the younger girls, are they don't fear anything, and if we continue to develop them and get the upper classman into the rhythm then we should be ok."
 
The second half of play saw a much different Alabama State women's basketball team.  The ladies slightly outscored the Bulldogs 37-36 holding them to 40 percent shooting from the field. The Lady Hornets out-rebounded Mississippi State 47-41. 
 
"We did a good job out rebounding Mississippi State," Freeman-Jackson state.  "We know that we need to capitalize on the things that we did well and leave this game behind.  We need to now focus on other things when we return back to practice on Tuesday."
 
The second half saw the Lady Hornets with opportunities to cut the score in half, but was never able to really capitalize on those chances.  Alabama State went on a 5-0 run with 15:47 left in the half (46-20), but the Bulldogs gained their momentum, never looking back to take the win.
 
Alabama State will break for final exams and will be back in action as they host Florida A&M, Tuesday, December 17, at 6:00 p.m. at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.