The Utah-Mississippi State women’s basketball game at the Cayman Island Classic on Thursday was defined by two huge runs — one for each team.
One saw the Bulldogs build as much as a 24-point lead early in the third quarter.
The other saw the Utes take a 1-point lead with just over one minute left to play.
Mississippi State, though, made the plays it needed in the game’s final minute to beat Utah 66-62 on Thanksgiving.
The 6-foot-6 Madina Okot made the most critical play of the night, grabbing an offensive rebound and getting the putback to drop with 28.6 seconds left, while also being fouled.
Those were Mississippi State’s first points in more than six and a half minutes, and with a made free throw to complete the three-point play, the Bulldogs had a 62-60 lead.
That came almost one minute of game time after Kennady McQueen’s 3-pointer gave Utah its first lead since the first few minutes of the contest, and capped a 15-0 Utes run.
Following Okot’s three-point play, the Bulldogs wrapped up the win at the free-throw line, while Utah had two turnovers in the game’s final minute and missed its final two field goal attempts of the game.
“I’ll live with results. We’ll clean stuff up. But our effort, it was there. So proud of them for that,” Utah coach Gavin Petersen told 700 AM in his postgame interview.
3 takeaways
The Utes had an awful first quarter. Utah (5-2) started the game off by taking a quick 5-0 lead off a Jenna Johnson layup and a Gianna Kneepkens 3 in the contest’s first minute.
After that, though, the Bulldogs (7-0) took control, outscoring the Utes 26-6 the rest of the first quarter to build a 15-point lead through one period.
Mississippi State made 10 of 17 shots in the first quarter, and that included five 3-point attempts.
Utah, meanwhile, hit just 4 of 10 shots and turned the ball over six times.
The Bulldogs were living up to their status as the nation’s best defense — they entered the game leading the country in field goal percentage defense (opponents were shooting 25.4%) and scoring defense (giving up 42.4 points per game).
Utah, meanwhile, was 16th nationally in shooting percentage (49.6%) and 14th in scoring (87 ppg).
After that first quarter — and even through halftime when the Bulldogs were up 43-22, it looked like Mississippi State’s defense was going to enforce its will on Utah.
Utah started to make its comeback a few minutes into the third quarter. At halftime, Petersen said he challenged his team.
“I just told them that we kind of got punked in that first quarter. We started out good, but then, you know, they went on a little run, and we just got quiet, and we got into our silos,” Petersen said.
“That’s something we’ve been preaching all season. It happened to us (in a loss) at Northwestern, it happened to us earlier today. So I challenged them. I know what we have inside. I know what that locker room consists of. And I said, I am not going to rest until I get that out of them. They answered the bell.”
It took about three minutes into the third quarter, but the Utes found their fight — down 49-25, Utah began to chip away at the Mississippi State lead.
The Utes went on a 10-0 third-quarter run before going into the fourth quarter down 17.
With 7:10 left, Utah trailed 59-45 after a Quanirah Montague layup.
That’s when the Utes made their move — again.
A minute and a half later, Montague was hit with a technical while complaining about getting called for a foul that sent Utah to the free-throw line. Johnson made 1 of 2 free throws from the initial foul, while Kneepkens, who scored a game-high 17 points, hit two free throws for the technical.
Johnson, who finished with 13 points after a slow shooting start, then made a 3-pointer with 5:13 remaining — that was her first 3 of the night, after missing five prior to that.
Johnson made two more shots over the next two-plus minutes, and with 2:54 to play, it was 59-55.
Kneepkens cashed in on two free throws to make it 59-57 with 2:05 left, and after another stop, the Utes’ McQueen gave Utah a 60-59 lead with 1:23 to play on a 3-pointer.
That capped a 35-10 run over nearly 16 minutes of game time.
While Utah couldn’t hold the lead in the final minute, Petersen loved the fight his team showed in rallying to make it a game.
“I can live with results. I can live with losing. I’m just not going to be scared or intimidated. … We are going to leave everything out there, and we’re going to play like our hair is on fire. And I thought they did that,” Petersen said.
“They found that edge down the stretch in the fourth quarter. And give credit to Mississippi State. Man, that kid (Okot) made a great rebound and putback and got fouled. You can’t teach size and athleticism. And I thought we battled.”
There’s a lot to learn from Utah’s biggest test of the season so far. The Utes were far from perfect in the loss to the Bulldogs.
Utah ended the night shooting 36.4%, while Mississippi State shot 46.2%.
That gap tightened in the fourth quarter, when Utah outshot the Bulldogs, hitting 7 of 15 field goals, with three 3-pointers, while Mississippi State was just 3 of 10.
Both teams were sloppy with the ball, as the Bulldogs had 22 turnovers to the Utes’ 20.
Mississippi State also held a 38-29 rebounding edge — including 10-9 on the offensive glass, though that only turned into a 14-12 advantage in second-chance points.
Utah also had a season-low 12 assists on 20 made field goals, while Mississippi State had 18 assists on 24 field goals.
One other positive: Utah went 14 of 18 from the free-throw line, compared to 11 of 16 for Mississippi State.
It’s these types of games that will help the team once Big 12 play starts in late December.
“We’re gonna clean some stuff up, but this is getting us ready for Big 12 play,” Petersen said.
What’s next
Utah will stay in the Cayman Islands for another game, playing No. 3 Notre Dame on Saturday.
The Irish are playing No. 17 TCU on Friday on Day 2 of the tournament, before facing the Utes in a 3 p.m. MST tip on Saturday. The game will be streamed on FloSports and can be heard on 700 AM.