STARKVILLE – Mississippi State’s Rickea Jackson scored a game-high 24 points on Sunday on her way to becoming the 24th member of the 1,000-point club. The Bulldogs outscored Jackson State by 12 in the second half, earning the 74-66 victory. 

 

Rickea Jackson was the Bulldogs’ leading scorer with 24 points, and she solidified her spot in Bulldog history by eclipsing the 1,000-career points threshold, making her the 24th Bulldog player to do so. Jackson also set a new career-high in rebounds, pulling down 12. 

 

Sitting at 999 points with just 11 seconds to play, Jackson connected on a pair of free throws to earn career points 1,000 and 1,001. 

 

Denae Carter made her first career collegiate start for the Bulldogs, scoring a new career-high 17 points to go along with her 13 rebounds, her second consecutive double-double, and third of her career. Carter is the first MSU player to record two straight double-doubles since Jessika Carter in early Jan. 2021.  

 

JerKaila Jordan also recorded a double-double, notching 11 points and tying her career-high in rebounds with 11. This marks the first game since Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 13, 2009, that three MSU players recorded double-doubles in the same game. Myah Taylor was solid once again leading the charge for State. The senior recorded nine points with seven assists and four rebounds. MSU is now 15-2 all-tome when Taylor dishes out seven or more assists in a game. 

 

Trailing 33-29 coming out of the locker room, the Bulldogs had heightened energy about them as they scored eight quick points to the game at 37 all. After weathering a run by Jackson State, who again took a six-point lead, MSU scored 10 of the final 12 points to take a two-point lead into the final frame. 

 

In the fourth, Mississippi State scored early and often increased their lead to a game-high nine following a string of buckets from Aislynn Hayes, Carter and Jackson. Jackson State would get no closer than five points in the fourth, with MSU ending the game with five straight made free throws. 

 

Mississippi State crashed the glass well as a team, out-rebounding Jackson State 51-33, their most significant rebounding margin this year. The Bulldogs committed just 14 fouls as a team, compared to the 22 committed by Jackson State.  

 

In each game this season, MSU has recorded more blocks and steals as a team than their opponents. That trend continued on Sunday as the Bulldogs tallied five blocks and eight steals while Jackson State recorded just two blocks and six steals. MSU also won the turnover battle, committing 11 turnovers to Jackson State’s 13.  

 

Quoting Coach Novak 

On the victory 

Tonight, we played a lot smarter. We played harder for longer stretches and attacked that basket, not just with drives but with rebounding. Between Denae [Carter] and Rickea [Jackson] and then JerKaila [Jordan] coming in from the wings, those are difference-makers and changes the tone of the game.” 

 

On Rickea’s strong play 

“These last two games, she has made some unbelievable effort plays when she was dead tired. It didn’t go our way yesterday, but there was a play where she was defending three quarters in the post. They tried to roll it in, and she lays out, head-first, with about two minutes to go to get a deflection and go out of bounds. Her competitive spirit is amazing, and it’s growing. When you start to put people like that onto your team, hopefully, it becomes contagious. The Denae’s and Rickea’s going after the glass – it becomes contagious. Then you have some guards running down balls and some guards rebounding and putting a body on somebody. Taking the fight to them, as opposed to being reactive.” 

 

Quoting Ricka Jackson 

On scoring her 1,000th career point 

“It means a lot. I could not have done it without my teammates. They trust me and give me the ball. I am so happy to have reached that milestone, but I could not do it without my teammates.” 

 

Up Next 

Mississippi State will be back home to host South Carolina State at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 20. 

 

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