The Mississippi State women”s basketball team has shown the ability to play the way coach Sharon Fanning-Otis wants.
Now the Lady Bulldogs have to put two halves together.
MSU delivered its best 20 minutes in Southeastern Conference play this season Thursday in the first half against the University of Tennessee, the undefeated league leader.
But the tide turned quickly in the second half, as the Lady Volunteers clamed down en route to an 81-55 victory in Knoxville, Tenn.
“The first half I felt we took it to them,” Fanning-Otis said. “I felt like we took advantage of where we could attack them.”
MSU (8-11, 0-7 SEC) will try again at 1 p.m. today (ESPNU) to get its first league victory when it plays host to Florida (13-9, 3-5) at Humphrey Coliseum.
The matchup will be a “Think Pink” game that will raise breast cancer awareness.
On Thursday, the Lady Bulldogs shot 47 percent from the field and led by as many as eight points before going into halftime with a 37-35 lead.
But the Lady Volunteers used an 18-0 run to start the second half to pull away. Like in other games this season, MSU suffered through a scoring drought. This time, a 5-minute, 49-second scoreless spurt doomed the Lady Bulldogs and dropped them to 0-32 all-time against the Lady Volunteers.
Fanning-Otis said the team had a “fine” practice Saturday and that she stayed on her players in an attempt to get them to develop an ability to focus and to play tough for 40 minutes. It has been a familiar theme this season and a result of having 11 new players (five junior college transfers and four freshmen).
“It is going to have to be a collective thing,” Fanning-Otis said. “We”re going to have to have the persistence, we”re going to have to make the extra pass, to set a better screen, to get a better guard cut, or to get another transition bucket or another free three. We”re not a team that goes at people the way we need.”
Fanning-Otis said the Lady Bulldogs have too often allowed their inability to do those things and others to affect the next play. That tendency is dangerous at any level, but is magnified in the SEC, where Fanning-Otis, who was watching game film of Florida on Saturday, once again highlighted the parity of the teams in the league this season.
And while MSU and Alabama (0-8) remain the only winless teams in the SEC, Fanning-Otis feels her team is improving. Her goal at the beginning of the season hasn”t changed: She wants MSU to be the most improved team in the team at the end of the season. To realize that goal, Fanning-Otis said she will go with a smaller rotation of players. She said Porsha Porter, Mary Kathryn Govero, Diamber Johnson, Catina Bett, and Ashley Brown will be expected to play a lot of minutes in a system that will look to Katia May, Darriel Gaynor, Ashley Newsome, and Danielle Rector off the bench. Fanning-Otis hopes the shorter rotation will help the Lady Bulldogs develop continuity and confidence and will help get the team closer to a 40-minute effort.
Playing fewer players in a rotation means the five starters will have to be even more focused and will have to avoid the mistakes that have come as a result of fatigue. Those mistakes have led to unforced turnovers and missed defensive assignments that have contributed to MSU”s eight-game losing streak.
“It is as much mental with this team, and the mental leads to the physical,” Fanning-Otis said of the team”s mistakes. “We have to be tougher. We can”t get punched and quit.”
Fanning-Otis said she and the Lady Bulldogs didn”t celebrate the first 20 minutes against Tennessee. Instead, she returned to the core components and stressed the Lady Bulldogs had to keep playing hard and to be prepared for the Lady Volunteers to raise their level of play.
Unfortunately, that didn”t happen like Fanning-Otis would have liked. Today, she hopes the players will take another step closer to helping the team produce what has been an elusive 40-minute effort.
“As I watch film, everybody in the league is playing hard,” Fanning-Otis said. “We”re the one that has not played as hard as have to to win games. If we can play hard we can find a way to win ballgames. We can”t slack off or take off possessions mentally. We have to get better taking care of the basketball and with our mental focus, and that has to do with toughness and the ability to keep playing and keeping your mind where it needs to be.”
Florida is coming off a 70-64 home win against Alabama on Thursday. Jordan Jones (10.1 points a game) leads the team in scoring, followed by Jaterra Bonds (8.7). The Gators are ninth in the league in scoring (65 ppg.) and ninth in scoring defense (61.6 ppg).
NOTE: Prior to the game, Govero will be honored for scoring her 1,000 career point against Tennessee.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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