STARKVILLE — The spark never materialized.
As a result, the Mississippi State senior with the most game experience was left to give her team a near-failing grade.
Diamber Johnson had a team-high 14 points and six assists, but she was one of few bright spots in MSU’s 66-48 victory against Alcorn State on Thursday night before a crowd of 580 at Humphrey Coliseum.
Center Martha Alwal had nine points and a school-freshman record 22 rebounds to help MSU improve to 3-0.
Unfortunately, there weren’t too many other positives on a night in which MSU struggled shooting the ball (29.4 percent in first half; 38.8 overall), taking care of the ball (12 assists to 24 turnovers), and making free throws (9 of 20).
“D-minus,” Johnson said when asked what grade she would give MSU for its performance. “It was a complete turnaround from the effort we had a couple of nights ago (in a 71-65 victory against Xavier on Monday).”
Johnson said she thought the Lady Bulldogs took the game lightly and didn’t use it like they needed to, especially with a game against defending national champion Texas A&M at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the Super Six Series in College Station, Texas. She said the team hasn’t practiced well and didn’t have a good shootaround prior to the game, which helped explain why MSU played without energy.
MSU coach Sharon Fanning-Otis tried contrasting approaches in the second half to spark her team. At the 17-minute, 9-second mark, she got into the faces of several players and challenged them to raise their energy level. The Bulldogs turned the ball over on their next possession.
After Alcorn State cut MSU’s lead to 35-28, Fanning-Otis called timeout at the 13:19 mark and talked softly and stressed several points.
“I think every time you play a game you learn,” Fanning-Otis said. “It is either something you did well that you want to repeat or it is something you didn’t do as well that you want to improve on. We will try to coach them better and, hopefully, they will try to get more energy and be focused.”
To its credit, Alcorn State (0-2) was the more aggressive team, even though it was outrebounded 59-34 and that it surrendered 32 offensive rebounds. Alwal, a 6-foot-4 center, grabbed 10 of those offensive rebounds, while senior Ashley Brown had seven of her 11 rebounds on the offensive end.
Alwal finished one point shy of her third-straight double-double. Her 22 rebounds tied LaToya Thomas for fifth-most in a game. Her 10 offensive boards also were the most in a game since 1988.
Alcorn State used a smaller lineup to pressure MSU into a disjointed effort for much of the evening. The Lady Braves twice cut the deficit to seven in the second half, only to see the Lady Bulldogs lead by as many as double figures for the final 11 minutes, 43 seconds.
Porsha Porter (13 points, five steals) and Kendra Grant (11 points) also scored in double figures for MSU. But Porter had eight turnovers and was one of 10 players who had turnovers.
“We didn’t prepare our bodies for it,” Johnson said. “Nothing we did was hard. We didn’t come in holding the rope, as we say, together as a team and having five people going hard all of the time. As a result, everything was out of sync.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.