Mississippi State women’s basketball loses to Florida as Jessika Carter battles injury

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State women’s basketball entered Sunday riding a five-game winning streak, one that started on Jan. 22 at Florida. The same program that helped MSU start its best SEC stretch since the 2019-20 season was the one that put it to an end.

Florida (13-9, 4-6 SEC) thumped Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum on Sunday 90-70, leading by 21 at one point. The Bulldogs (20-6, 7-4) were able to trim it to 11 in the fourth quarte, but couldn’t consistently string together stops, and they turned the ball over 20 times.

Florida shot 61% from the field, including 70.4% in the first half. Despite having four players score in double figures, coach Sam Purcell’s squad was out of the game for the majority of the afternoon.

Jessika Carter injured but returns to game

Less than four minutes in, MSU forward Jessika Carter was injured after landing awkwardly on a put-back attempt. She was on the floor for an extended period of time, banging her fist on the court in disappointment.

Carter was helped back to the Mississippi State locker room. However, she emerged back on the bench shortly after and rode a stationary bike before checking back into the game early in the second quarter.

She had a noticeable limp on the court, and when she was on the bench, she was typically on the stationary bike. During halftime, she stayed on the court to do work with strength and conditioning coach Kaiti Jones.

Carter finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Prior to the game, she was honored for surpassing 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career. She’s only the third player in program history to reach those marks.

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What’s next on Mississippi State’s schedule?

Mississippi State has a week off before renewing its rivalry with Ole Miss on Feb. 18 (3 p.m., SEC Network+) in Oxford. MSU won the first meeting Jan. 14, holding Ole Miss to just six points in the fourth quarter in the 69-57 victory.

The win was Purcell’s first against Ole Miss in two seasons at Mississippi State. The Rebels won four straight after the loss in Starkville, but they’ve dropped their past two, including against Texas A&M on Thursday at home, 72-53.

Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.