Mississippi
Mississippi State’s Jessika Carter selected by New York Liberty in 2024 WNBA Draft
Mississippi State women’s basketball forward Jessika Carter was selected with the 23rd pick by the New York Liberty in the 2024 WNBA Draft on Monday. She is the ninth player in program history to be drafted and the first since Teaira McCowan and Anriel Howard in 2019.
Carter’s six-year career at Mississippi State came to an end in March when the Bulldogs were eliminated in the WBIT quarterfinals.
She joined MSU in 2018 as a product of Waverly Hall, Georgia. Playing behind Howard and McCowan, Carter appeared in 36 games as a freshman without any starts. However, she jumped into a starting role the following season under coach Vic Schaefer.
As a sophomore, Carter averaged 13 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Her scoring average jumped to 14.3 points the following season after Schaefer departed for Texas and the late Nikki McCray-Penson took over.
Carter didn’t play during the 2021-22 campaign due to personal reasons and opened up via social media about her mental health battles. Her absence from the court came as Doug Novak served as the program’s interim head coach following McCray-Penson’s sudden departure before the season.
She returned to action the following season after coach Sam Purcell was hired. She started 30 of her 31 games, helping lead Mississippi State back to the NCAA Tournament. Carter earned All-SEC honors after averaging 14.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
MSU IN THE PORTAL: Former LSU star Hailey Van Lith visiting Mississippi State women’s basketball
She again earned All-SEC honors in the 2023-24 season after averaging 15.2 points and 9.7 rebounds. Carter finished her MSU career with 1,125 rebounds, ranking second in program history.
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.
It will be a beautiful start to the weekend with sunny skies and highs in the 80s. Here’s your statewide forecast from the National Weather Service.
Northern Mississippi
It will be a sunny Friday with highs in the mid-80s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy and warmer with lows in the mid to upper 60s.
Central Mississippi
Friday will be sunny with highs in the mid to upper 80s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid-60s.
Southern Mississippi
It will be a sunny Friday with highs in the mid-80s. Friday night will be partly cloudy with lows in the lower 60s.
Mississippi
Golden Spikes watchlist features players from Mississippi State, Ole Miss – SuperTalk Mississippi
Two pitchers representing Mississippi universities are up for the 2026 Golden Spikes Award.
USA Baseball announced Thursday the 25 semifinalists for the award, which is presented annually to the most prolific college player in the nation. Both Mississippi State’s Tomas Valincius and Ole Miss’ Cade Townsend cracked the list. It’s the latest award each was announced to be up for after Valincius and Townsend became Ferris Trophy finalists earlier this week.
Valincius, a left-hander who followed first-year Bulldog head coach Brian O’Connor to Starkville from Virginia has been a star for Mississippi State this season. In 13 starts, the sophomore is 8-2 with a 2.52 ERA and 105 strikeouts, along with just 16 walks across 75 innings of work.
He has effectively limited opposing hitters to a .209 batting average on the year and ranks second in the SEC in strikeouts and wins, and is third in innings pitched and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.56) and WHIP (0.99).
Valincius is the 10th Bulldog to earn a semifinalist distinction from the Golden Spikes Award and the first since Dakota Jordan in 2024. Will Clark is the program’s only Golden Spikes Award winner in 1985 while Rafael Palmeiro and Brent Rooker finished as finalists for the honor in 1984 and 2017, respectively.
For Ole Miss, Townsend is the first Rebel since Doug Nikhazy in 2021 and just the seventh ever to be named a semifinalist for the award. He is the first Ole Miss sophomore to ever be named a semifinalist as all six before him were juniors.
The right-hander boasts a 3.25 ERA and has struck out 77 batters while only allowing 20 earned runs in 55.1 innings. Townsend ranks fifth in the SEC in WHIP (1.01), strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.50), and strikeouts per nine innings (12.52). He leads the Rebels in all three categories as well as batters struck out looking (24) and wins and is second in opponent batting average (.202) and total strikeouts (77).
If Townsend is announced as a finalist, he will join Stephen Head and Drew Pomeranz in earning the honor. No Ole Miss player has ever won the Golden Spikes Award.
The full list of semifinalists can be found here. Finalists will be named on June 10, and this year’s Golden Spikes Award winner will be announced on the MLB Network on June 29. Fans can weigh in on which player is their favorite by clicking here.
One series remains in the regular season and Ole Miss and Mississippi State baseball are in similar situations.
Both are locks for the NCAA Tournament but are on the bubble for hosting a regional.
The Tennessean’s latest bracket projections have both the Rebels and Bulldogs as two of the 16 national seeds, but that is not solidified yet.
Finding wins in the final series, and possibly the SEC Tournament too, are necessary. Both teams close the regular season on the road against ranked teams that are also projected to host regionals.
The No. 12 Bulldogs (38-14, 15-12 SEC) play at No. 10 Texas A&M (37-12, 16-10). The No. 19 Rebels (35-18, 14-13) play at No. 16 Alabama (35-17, 16-11). Both series begin May 14 (6 p.m., SEC Network+).
Here’s a look at the different scenarios for Ole Miss and Mississippi State to host NCAA Tournament regionals.
Mississippi State, Ole Miss hosting scenarios for NCAA Tournament
Ole Miss and Mississippi State getting swept could knock them completely out of the hosting conversation, barring a deep run in the SEC Tournament. However, SEC Tournament wins are not always viewed the same as SEC regular-season wins by the selection committee.
Mississippi State is in a slightly better spot than Ole Miss. The Bulldogs’ RPI is at No. 12, one spot ahead of Ole Miss. They are tied for sixth in the SEC standings, while Ole Miss is ninth.
The Bulldogs also went 4-0 against Ole Miss, which could give them the edge if the final hosting seed came down to those two teams.
The Tennessean projects MSU as the No. 12 national seed and the Rebels as the No. 13 seed. D1Baseball and Baseball America also project MSU to host, however they both have Ole Miss as a No. 2 seed.
That could mean Ole Miss needs two wins against Alabama, while MSU may be fine with just one win at Texas A&M. If Ole Miss wins one game at Alabama, it probably would need multiple wins in the SEC Tournament.
Mississippi State winning two games at Texas A&M could keep it in contention for a top eight seed. Ole Miss and Mississippi State sweeping their series obviously would, too.
Getting a top eight seed is advantageous because that means you are guaranteed to host a super regional.
Who Ole Miss, Mississippi State fans should root against
It will help Ole Miss and Mississippi State if teams near them in the projections lose, too. That would be teams like Oregon, West Virginia, Wake Forest, Nebraska, Oregon State and Kansas.
Oregon hosts Southern Cal, Nebraska plays at Minnesota, Kansas plays at BYU, Wake Forest plays at Duke, Oregon State hosts Air Force and West Virgina hosts TCU.
How NCAA Tournament history could be made in Mississippi
If everything falls the right way, there’s a chance Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss all host NCAA Tournament regionals. That’s never happened.
The No. 9 Golden Eagles (37-14, 19-8 Sun Belt) are projected by The Tennessean as the No. 10 national seed, just ahead of MSU and Ole Miss.
Southern Miss plays a home series against Georgia Southern (15-37, 7-20) at Pete Taylor Park beginning May 14 (7 p.m., ESPN+).
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
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