March 2000 MSU Basketball Skuttle-Butt

03/31/00
Women's Basketball - Mississippi State freshman LaToya Thomas has been named a Kodak All-American, it was released Thursday by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Thomas joins nine other players from throughout the nation on the most prestigious all-America team in women's basketball.

A native of Greenville, Miss., Thomas becomes the first MSU player to ever receive the honor. This season she became the first freshman in Southeastern Conference history to lead the league in scoring at 21.0 points per contest.

"This is a tremendous honor for both LaToya and Mississippi State University," Lady Bulldog head coach Sharon Fanning said. "We are proud of our team's progress and very happy LaToya has been recognized as one of the top 10 players in the country as a freshman."

Thomas became just the eighth freshman to have been given this honor in the award's 25-year history. The last to do so was Tamika Catchings of Tennessee in 1998.

Thomas helped the Lady Bulldogs to a 24-8 record this season, including the program's second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. MSU also reached the finals of the SEC Tournament for the first time in school history. Thomas is in Philadelphia, Pa., for the women's basketball Final Four, where the Kodak All-America Awards Banquet was held Thursday.

"Our focus has been on 'team,' so individual accomplishments are rarely discussed," Fanning said. "I'm sure LaToya will understand the significance of this recognition after her visit to Philadelphia."

This honor comes on the heels of 12 other awards she received this season, including being MSU's first SEC Freshman of the Year. Other national accolades garnered by Thomas this season included Sports Illustrated for Women Freshman of the Year, Women's Basketball Journal Freshman of the Year, U.S. Basketball Writers Association Freshman of the Year and espn.com Rookie of the Year.

Thomas broke six school records in her initial season in the Maroon and White. She now holds the records for most free throws made and attempted in a season. She also holds freshmen records for most points, best scoring average, best field goal percentage and most blocks.

Three other SEC players were also named to the team: Tamika Catchings and Semeka Randall of Tennessee and Kelly Miller of Georgia. Top-ranked Connecticut also placed two players on the team: Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph.

Edwina Brown of Texas, Helen Darling of Penn State, Katie Douglas of Purdue and Tamicha Jackson of Louisiana Tech round out the team. All players other than Thomas are either juniors or seniors.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU athletic media relations department

03/30/00 - Jackson Lanier High School standout Darius Rice, on a 9-for-18 shooting night, scored 24 points (20 in the first half) in the McDonald's All-American game last night. for additional details.....

MSU signee Mario Austin also looked impressive during the game and will be a very welcome addition to the MSU team next season. You add him to MSU signee Timmy Bowers and, hopefully, Darius and you have the makings of another potential Final Four team at State.

03/29/00 - As I have recently said on my premium site and will now say on this site, MSU basketball player Derrick Zimmerman is not transferring. According to excellent sources, he will, without question, be a Bulldog next season. Plus, without going into detail, Derrick's actions speak much louder than the transfer rumors.

03/28/00 - The lastest solid rumor is Northeast Mississippi CC point guard Guy Gardner will walk on at State this coming fall. According to my source, Guy is a very hard worker, a good ball handler and shooter who will have to gain a little weight to play the physical ball in the SEC.

03/27/00 - Timmy Bowers, a 6-4, 180-lb, guard from Harrison Central HS (MS), committed to MSU after visiting this weekend. He is rated the 3rd best player in Mississippi by Kevin Henderson of Mississippi Hoops. He chose MSU over Alabama.

03/27/00 - Northeast Jones HS was defeated by Mendenhall in the semi-finals of the state 4A boys basketball tournament this past season. Of special note is the fact that they are coached by former MSU student assistant Todd Hutchinson. Todd, who is 92-39 in four years at NEJ, was on the MSU staff Bob Boyd's last year and Richard Williams' first two years. In four years at NEJ, Todd has a 92-39 record.

03/22/00 - According to a source in the know, don't look for the NCAA to make a change next year in regard to where NCAA Tournament 1st and 2nd round games will be hosted. According to my source, the rule will remain as is for at least one more year. If it is going to be changed, it will be effective year 2002. What that means is MSU, with the team that they will have coming back, will have an excellent shot at being a host team next year. Here's hoping all of you will buy women's basketball season tickets next year which will show the MSU athletic administration that they will have the money to back up their bid.

03/21/00 - MSU freshman LaToya Thomas has been nominated as one of 48 finalists for the Kodak All-American 10-member team. Click here for the complete story.......

03/20/00 - The Lady Bulldogs will arrive back at the Hump around 5 p.m. this afternoon. Please come out if at all possible.

The MSU Lady Bulldogs were defeated by the UAB Blazers 78 to 72 last night ending the greatest women's basketball season in school history. UAB was red hot from the field for most of the night while MSU had one of their worst shooting nights of the season.

Looking to next year, MSU returns the nucleus of this year's team including LaToya Thomas, Jennifer Fambrough and Cynthia Hall. MSU's one weak point this year, lack of depth inside, will most likely be corrected with this year's outstanding recruiting class.

03/19/00 - MSU's Lady Bulldogs basketball team takes on UAB tonight for the NCAA Tournament West bracket championship. Game time is set for 10:07 p.m. (CST). The winner of tonight's game advances to the "Sweet 16" in Portland, Oregon.

MSU, if they win tonight, will fly back home and then return to Portland, Oregon later in the week.

03/17/00 (11:25 p.m.)
Women's Basketball - MSU, behind the 26 point effort of freshman sensation LaToya Thomas, defeated St. Peter's 94-50 in the first round of the west bracket of the Women's NCAA Tournament.

MSU will now play the winner of the Oregon / UAB game this Sunday. Game time is set for 10:07 p.m. CST. The game will be televised by ESPN2.

03/16/00 - If you are going to be in attendance at the women's NCAA basketball games this Friday and, hopefully, Sunday, and would like to get together with other Bulldog fans prior to the games, please email me and I'll try and get all of you in contact with each other.

03/14/00 - Picture of the team seeing on the television that MSU has been picked as a number 3 seed in the women's NCAA Tournament.

03/14/00
Women's Basketball - The Women's team leaves for Eugene, Oregon via the Golden Triangle Airport at 2 p.m. today. If you can make it, get there early to give them a great send-off.

For complete detail on the MSU women's basketball NCAA Tournament opponent, visit the Saint Peter's Peahen website....

P.S. - Did you know that MSU averaged about 2,500 fans per game this season? Oregon, which got MSU's host site, averaged 5,712. Did you also know that MSU averaged 469 fans per game last season? And that average included players and coaches. MSU is about to contend for a National Championship the next three years. Here's hoping those of you who did not attend a women's basketball game this year and are complaining about MSU not hosting will do your part next year and attend some games. Also, there has been an occasionally post about which team sport will win a National Championship (NC) first. Usually baseball and tennis are mentioned first. My vote is now on MSU women's basketball. To be a true contender for a NC, all this team lacked was depth. I think Coach Fanning has solved that problem by signing six outstanding players for next year.

P.S.-2 - The next team sport at MSU that is going to garner the national limelight will be softball. MSU softball coach Kathy Arendson, never one to be afraid to play the top schools in the nation anywhere or anytime, is quickly building a powerhouse just as Coach Fanning has done in basketball. Look for her to have the equivalent of MSU baseball's Palmeiro and Clark in Kellie Wilkerson and 1999 fall signee Iyhia McMichael the next three years.

03/13/00 Mississippi State's 12th-ranked women's basketball team will take on Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion Saint Peter's in the first round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament it was announced Sunday. The Lady Bulldogs (23-7) and the Peahens will square off Friday at 8:15 p.m. CST at McArthur Court in Eugene, Ore.

The No. 3 seed in the West Regional, the Lady Bulldogs will make their second consecutive appearance in the tournament. Last season, MSU was the seventh seed in the Midwest Regional at Lubbock, Texas. Sixth-seeded Oregon will host the subregional, taking on the University of Alabama at Birmingham in its first-round contest.

"Ideally, anybody wants to stay close to home," MSU head coach Sharon Fanning said. "Really, though, it doesn't matter who or when we play. We have to play our best basketball on gameday; that's what is most important."

This will be the first meeting between State and Saint Peter's, which hails from Jersey City, N.J. In fact, the Lady Bulldogs have faced only one other MAAC school in the program's 25-year history, falling to Manhattan College 52-32 at the 1985 Wagner Classic in Staten Island, N.Y.

Saint Peter's (23-7) will be making the sixth appearance in the tournament. The Peahens have never made it past the first round, falling to Virginia Tech in their initial contest of last season's Tournament.

Oregon (23-7), meanwhile, will be making its seventh consecutive appearance in the Tournament and its 10th all-time. The Ducks are 4-9 in Tournament play, 3-6 under head coach Jody Runge. Last season, Oregon defeated Cincinnati 65-56 in the first round, but then fell to Iowa State 85-70.

UAB (19-11) will, like the Lady Bulldogs, be making just its second tournament appearance. The Blazers lost 74-66 in the first round of the 1994 event to George Washington.

The Lady Bulldogs join five other SEC members in the Tournament. Georgia, who MSU defeated in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament last weekend, will be the No. 1 seed in the West. SEC Tournament champion Tennessee also garnered a No. 1 seed; the Lady Vols will play in the Mideast Regional.

Louisiana State will be the third seed in the East Regional, while Vanderbilt draws Kansas in the first round as the ninth seed in the Midwest Regional. Auburn will also play in the Midwest, taking on Southwest Missouri State in the first round as the No. 7 seed.

Should the Lady Bulldogs escape the Eugene subregional, they would move on to the West Regional semifinals in Portland, Ore. Second-seed Rutgers will face Holy Cross and seventh-seeded Texas will take on St. Joseph's in the bottom half of MSU's bracket. Fourth-seeded Cal-Santa Barbara and fifth-seeded North Carolina join Georgia in the top of the West bracket.

"Right now, everybody has to put it on the line for us to continue playing," Fanning said. "If we continue to improve, we'll play for a while. Our ultimate goal is to play six more games, but our immediate focus is our first practice and our first game."

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU sports media relations department

03/10/00 - Rick Jones matched a Southeastern Conference tournament record with eight three-pointers as Vanderbilt defeated Mississippi State 76-53 Thursday afternoon at the Georgia Dome. Complete story here....

03/09/00 (4:10 p.m.) - As I have just posted via the MSU athletic media release, MSU's women's basketball program will not be hosting the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament 1st and 2nd round games due to a university based function that has booked most of the hotel rooms in Starkville, West Point and a few rooms in Columbus. The university function, which was booked in advance over a year ago, is the Southern Regional Orientation Workshop (SROW). MSU hosted the first meeting 25 years ago and was picked as host for the Silver Anniversary meeting. I got off the phone with Jimmy Abraham, Director of Enrollment Services, a few minutes ago. He told me that this event was booked over a year ago and, at that time, he looked at all possible MSU related events (academic and athletic) scheduled for the month of March (the event is normally scheduled in mid-March) and decided on the weekend of March 17-19th. Little did he or anyone else, for that matter, know that MSU's women's basketball team would wind up having such an outstanding season that they would be in line for possibility hosting a NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament 1st and 2nd round site. When the possibility of MSU hosting the 1st and 2nd round site came up, all SROW events that were scheduled for Humphrey Coliseum were moved to other locations on campus, however, the NCAA requires the host university to guarantee a certain number of rooms within a 30 mile radius of the university. MSU, because of the SROW event, could not guarantee those rooms. While this is very unfortunate for MSU women's basketball team, no one did anything wrong and no one should be blamed for it happening as it did. Everybody involved tried to work around the SROW event and the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament rules, however, MSU just could not get past the NCAA requirement of the necessary hotel rooms required within the 30 mile radius.

03/09/00 (3:00 p.m.) - Mississippi State has withdrawn its application to host first and second rounds of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Humphrey Coliseum, MSU athletics director Larry Templeton said Thursday.

The school could not meet the contractual demands for hotel room requirements set forth by the NCAA in the Starkville area. A major university function has caused nearly all of the hotel space to be booked within the NCAA mandated limit of 30 miles from campus.

"It's unfortunate that the conflict has arisen on this particular weekend," Templeton said. "Our women's basketball program certainly deserves the opportunity to be a host site for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament."

Although Mississippi State had 20 wins heading into the Southeastern Conference Tournament, the possibility of hosting was made likely by the Lady Bulldogs' performance in the Tournament over the weekend. Fifth-seeded MSU began the tournament by defeating arch-rival Mississippi Thursday 75-59 to complete a three-game sweep of the Lady Rebels this season.

State upset then-No. 12 Auburn 66-56 Friday night marking its second upset of the Tigers this season. In its first semifinal appearance in the SEC Tournament, the Lady Bulldogs defeated then-No. 2 Georgia 62-61 setting the stage for the rematch against Tennessee on Sunday.

In the championship game on Sunday, the Lady Bulldogs controlled most of the second half, leading by as much as 12 over the Lady Vols. In the end, Tennessee won 70-67 in the final minute, just as it had earlier this season in Starkville.

Due to its incredible play in the tournament last weekend, State moved up five places from No. 17 to No. 12 in the Associated Press poll this week. The Lady Bulldogs went from No. 19 to No. 14 in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 poll.

Mississippi State will find out where it is headed Sunday on the selection show broadcast on ESPN at 4:15 p.m. CST.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU athletic media relations department

03/09/00 - Don't forget that the MSU men's team plays Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament today at 2:15 p.m.

03/09/00 - The Mississippi coaches for the Mississippi/Alabama all-star basketball game were recently named. They are Lanier High School head basketball coach Thomas Billups for the boy's team and Meridian High School head basketball coach Donald Shirley for the girl's team. The two games are scheduled for June 10th at the Holmes CC Coliseum in Goodman, MS. The players for both games will be announced March 15th.

03/05/00 (2:45 p.m.) - MSU/Alabama men's basketball game post-game press conference comments from the premium site:

Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury:

I've come to this podium several times this year after wins and losses and I've said this before; I couldn't be more proud of a great of guys than I am now. They have had many opportunities to lay down but have never done that. If you keep fighting good things will happen and good things happened today. We had a lot of good individual efforts. Antonio Jackson's effort speaks for itself. Tang Hamilton really played well on both ends of the court. I think a key of that basketball game that may go unnoticed was the play of T. J. Billups. I thought that he gave us great defense on Shea Cotton. He was really the only guy that we had that could guard Cotton that first half. He gave us the toughness that we needed. It was a great team effort.

A question was asked about Antonio Jackson's performance...
Coach Stansbury: There is no question that Antonio can shoot the basketball. He shot it earlier in the season for us, then he went in a little slump. Today, he stepped up again and shot it. Even good shooters can't shoot it like that ever day.

A question was asked how he tried to encourage Antonio Jackson during his shooting slump....
Coach Stansbury: Shooters have to keep shooting. I have Antonio the only way that you will be taken out of the game is for not shooting the basketball. If you are 0 for 5 and you turn down an open shot, I am going to take you out of the game. Shooters have to have that mentality if they are shooters. Antonio just hasn't made some shots but he can shoot the ball.

An Alabama writer asked this question: Rick, Shea Cotton said during the first game against Alabama that you were talking smack to him.
Coach Stansbury: Who was? I never said one word to Shea Cotton. It never happened.

A question was asked about MSU's approach to the game.
Coach Stansbury: We wanted to play in transition. I thought that Alabama would have a hard time keeping up with us in transition over a 40 minute period. I thought that we got some open spot-up shots in transition. That doesn't mean that you got a layup in transition, but because you run the floor, it opened up some jump shots.

Talk about Tang Hamilton's rebounding today?
Coach Stansbury: He had a big day on the backboards. He got nine rebounds for us. When he got his rebounds, he started the transition for us. That got us going. He had 18 points and 9 rebounds.

GP: Alabama started out pretty hot. Then, your team seemed to turn it around and dominated Alabama from that point on. What did you do to cause that turnaround?
Coach Stansbury: We started playing. I didn't think that we played at all during the first three or four minutes. I think that we came out a little tight. We really weren't moving, running like we should. Robert Jackson gave up a couple of putbacks to Dudley. At that point, I think that it was 10-2 at the first media break. I think that we came back and Antonio knocked down a three and we got going. I thought that our defense picked up at that point. We changed defenses some, going from zone to man. I thought that T. J. Billups coming in the game was very big for us.

Have you had a game as good as this one during the season?
Coach Stansbury: We have had some good games. Down at LSU was a game we played with a lot of great effort for 40 minutes, although we did not have the same result as we did today.

Talk about the upcoming SEC Tournament?
Coach Stansbury: We play Thursday against Vanderbilt, I believe. Our team believes that they can go anywhere and have a chance to win a basketball game. That is no different in going to the SEC Tournament.

GP: Talk about Todd Myles, your only senior this year?
Coach Stansbury: I am proud for Todd in a lot of ways and not just because of his basketball play. Todd has had some adversity during his career but he has fought through it. To his credit, he has gotten his undergraduate degree and is working on his masters and he has matured so much as a person. He is a young man, when he leaves Mississippi State, who you don't have to worry about being successful in the real world.

03/05/00 (12:40 p.m.) - Click here to read The Clarion-Ledger article about yesterday's MSU women's historic SEC tournament basketball victory.

03/05/00 (12:40 p.m.) - Click here to read The Clarion-Ledger article about yesterday's men's basketball game.

03/05/00 - Antonio Jackson scored a career-high 29 points to lead Mississippi State to a 92-70 victory over Alabama Saturday afternoon at Humphrey Coliseum.

Jackson's tally came on 10-of-13 shooting from the field, including a 7-of-9 effort from beyond the arc.

After trailing by as many as eight points in the first half, Mississippi State (14-15, 5-11 SEC) took the lead for good on the first of Jackson's seven treys with 8:20 left in the game.

Alabama (13-15, 6-10) cut the lead to five with 17:24 remaining in the game, but State stretched its lead to as many as 24 points to secure the victory.

Shea Cotton led all scorers with 34 for the Crimson Tide. Rod Grizzard scored 12 in the losing effort.

Tang Hamilton scored 18 points and downed a game-high nine rebounds for the Bulldogs while Robert Jackson netted 17 points and had eight rebounds.

With the victory, Mississippi State clinched the Western Division's fifth-seed in next week's SEC Tournament. The Bulldogs will face Vanderbilt on Thursday at 2:15 at Atlanta's Georgia Dome. State was a 61-60 loser at Memorial Gym earlier this season.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU athletic media relations department

03/05/00 - The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs defeated the number two ranked Georgia Lady Bulldogs 62 to 61 in a very thrilling Women's SEC Basketball Tournament game. Visit here for the complete game details.......

03/04/00 - Mississippi State's best season ever got even better Friday night. Cynthia Hall scored 17 points, including five 3- pointers, as the Lady Bulldogs (No. 19 ESPN/USA Today, No. 17 AP) came away with a 66-56 upset of Auburn (No. 15 ESPN/USA Today, No. 12 AP) to reach the SEC tournament semifinals for the first time in school history. They will play No. 2 Georgia (29-2) on Saturday at 5 p.m. CST on Fox Sports Net.

"The biggest challenge for this team right now is to not be satisfied," Fanning said. "We've set some high goals and have had expectations and try to stay focused on that. Everyone believes and are encouraged to believe they can do the job."

The Lady Bulldogs (22-6), who scored their first 15 points off threes and never trailed, gave coach Fanning her 400th career victory in 24 years of coaching. Fanning has 97 wins at Mississippi State in her fifth year at the helm.

MSU wound up hitting 8-of-14 from long range in the first half and finished with 10 threes, just two short of the tournament record and three short of the school-record 13 set earlier this season.

"We ran into a 3-point machine early," Auburn coach Joe Ciampi said. "With the quick 3-pointers that they fired against us, we lost our defensive composure, and offensively, we couldn't find the floor early. We played catchup from there on in."

LaToya Thomas added 16 points, and Angela Harris had 14 points for Mississippi State. Nitra Perry chipped in seven points to go with her team-leading six rebounds and six assists. Jennifer Fambrough added nine points to go with her six rebounds as well.

Hall, who was 5-of-8 from 3-point range, was surprised Auburn left her open.

"When I was open, I just shot it. I was really just feeling it tonight," she said.

Auburn, 0-7 against ranked teams, struggled without leading scorer and rebounder LeCoe Willingham. The freshman had surgery Monday to repair torn cartilage in her knee.

Lori Nero, starting for the first time in her two seasons, scored a career-high 23. Conswella Sparrow added 11.

The Tigers put together an 11-2 spurt capped by Nero's layup with 9:16 to go to get within 19-18. That would be it as Mississippi State countered with its own 17-4 run keyed by two 3s by Hall and led 41-32 at halftime.

The best Auburn could manage in the second half was to get within six a couple times, the last at 60-54 on a bucket by Nero with 3:01 remaining.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU sports media relations department

03/03/00 - Mississippi State, behind great post play and a smothering defense, defeated Mississippi here Wednesday by the score of 75-59 to advance to the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The victory was MSU's fourth consecutive versus Mississippi. All-SEC selections sophomore Jennifer Fambrough and freshman LaToya Thomas led the Lady Bulldogs with 22 and 21 points, respectively.

MSU held a seven-point advantage at halftime and allowed only one Mississippi field goal during an eight-minute stretch during the second half to extend their lead to 20 points. During that 15-2 Lady Bulldog run, Fambrough scored five of her game-high 22 points and senior Nitra Perry grabbed five of her 11 rebounds.

The Lady Bulldogs began the game with a 7-0 run, but Mississippi quickly answered, tying the game at 12 midway through the first half. Mississippi State responded with a pair of Cynthia Hall three-pointers and eight points from Fambrough to take the lead at halftime.

Fifth seed Mississippi State, coached by Sharon Fanning, the SEC Coach of the Year, will play No. 4 seed Auburn Friday night at 7 p.m. ET. The winner of that contest will advance to play the winner of No. 1 seed Georgia and ninth-seeded Kentucky on Saturday.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU sports media relations department

03/02/00 - Mississippi State will begin first-round play of the 2000 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament today at 6 p.m. (CST) as the fifth seed, opposite Mississippi. If the Lady Bulldogs win, they will face fourth-seed Auburn Friday at 6 p.m.

03/01/00 - Mississippi State dropped a 73-61 decision here Tuesday night to 18th-ranked Kentucky before 5,748 fans. With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 13-15 on the season and 4-11 in Southeastern Conference play. The Wildcats improve to 21-8 and 11-4.

A 12-2 run by Kentucky early in the second half proved detrimental for the Bulldogs. Antonio Jackson nailed a three-pointer with 17:52 remaining in the game to cut the UK lead to 38-35. However, Kentucky rattled off 12 points to MSU?s two over the next five minutes of play and held a 50-37 advantage at the 12:55 mark.

State pulled to within seven, 59-52, with 3:29 to play. That was as close as the Bulldogs would get, though, as the Wildcats pushed their lead back to double-figures in the closing seconds.

"It seemed like we never got going the way that we have to play to win," MSU head coach Rick Stansbury said. "I didn't think we moved as well offensively as we have been. Kentucky is big, they have good athletes, and they keep you from getting good shots. Tonight they did that."

Jamaal Magloire and Tayshaun Prince netted 16 points each for Kentucky to lead all scorers. Magloire scored six of his points during that crucial second-half run.

"(Magloire) got much deeper than I would have liked," Stansbury said. "Every time that he caught it, he was deeper than I would have liked. How to keep him from it" We had no answer. We threw Robert (Jackson) at (Magloire). We doubled him and he would catch it and go through us before we could get there. We used 10 fouls on him and it still didn't slow him down."

Meanwhile, Kentucky limited MSU big-man Robert Jackson to just eight points on the evening. In foul trouble for most of the game, Robert Jackson saw just 18 minutes of action before fouling out with more than four minutes to play.

Antonio Jackson and Michael Gholar led the offensive charge for the Bulldogs with 12 points each. Gholar, however, was held to just four points on 2-of-7 shooting in the second half. Tang Hamilton chipped in with 11 points, but hit just three of 11 field goals and missed on all five attempts from long range.

The rims were not kind to the Bulldogs in the early going. State had just four points eight minutes into the game, those coming on a layups by Hamilton and Robert Jackson. Kentucky laid stake to an 11-4 lead during that time after scoring the game's first points.

State trailed by as many as 11 twice during the first half and saw a 29-19 deficit on the scoreboard with 2:59 left before intermission. From there, the Bulldogs scored 10 consecutive points to tie the game. However, a Desmond Allison three-pointer on the Cats next trip down broke the tie and MSU never grabbed a lead. UK led 34-29 at the half.

The Bulldogs were held to just 36.4 percent shooting (24-of-66) on the night. State also hit on just five of 21 three-point attempts. Kentucky, on the other hand, shot 45.8 percent from the field (27-of-59). The Wildcats had even more trouble from long range, though, making just five of 27 attempts.

Freshman guard Derrick Zimmerman tied his career high with four steals while tallying nine points. Gholar pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

MSU has now lost five straight home meetings to the Wildcats, dating back to the 1990-91 campaign. Kentucky leads the all-time series 77-16.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU sports media relations department

03/01/00 - The 1999-2000 Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs earned yet another trophy-piece for its mantle by placing eight upperclassmen on the Southeastern Conference Women's Basketball Academic Honor Roll. State tops the conference with its eight selections. Mississippi, with six honorees, finished second.

Guard Meadow Overstreet topped her teammates with a 3.72 GPA in Art. Joining Overstreet on the Honor Roll are forward Jennifer Fambrough (3.63 in accounting), forward Barbara Thomas (3.30 in marketing), center Ilisha Jarrett (3.21 in educational psychology), guard Cynthia Hall (3.13 in fitness management), center Elizabeth Wamsley (3.11 in international business), forward Nitra Perry (3.07 in teaching/coaching) and forward Courtney Graham (3.05 in general business administration).

Three of the four upperclass regular starters made the honor roll for the Maroon and White along with three of MSU's four seniors. The eight honorees shatters the team mark of five, set four previous times.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must have a 3.0 grade point average for either the past year (two semesters or three quarters) or a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for their career. The honoree must also be a sophomore or higher in terms of academic classification and must have 24 semester hours toward a degree.

Fambrough was named to the GTE Academic All-District Team on Feb. 24 which is selected by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America. To be eligible a player must have a 3.2 grade point average or higher. Athletic success is also taken into account.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU sports media relations department

Mississippi State will begin first-round play of the 2000 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament Thursday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the fifth seed, opposite Mississippi. If the Lady Bulldogs win, they will face fourth-seed Auburn Friday at 6 p.m.

03/01/00 - Click here to go to the official McDonald's All-American Game website. MSU signee Mario Austin and MSU recruit Darius Rice have both been selected to play on the east squad.

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