Mississippi State Remains On The Road To Face Colorado State

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State women's basketball remains on the road to face Colorado State inside Moby Arena in its final contest before Christmas break at 6:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday.

GAME INFORMATION
Mississippi State (11-2) at Colorado State (9-1)
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 20 | Time: 6:30 p.m. CT
Location: Fort Collins, Colo. (Moby Arena)
Watch: Mountain West Network
Listen: MSU Radio Network - Starkville 96.1 (Play-By-Play: Jason Crowder)

Fans not in attendance can follow action on Mountain West Network or through their affiliate radio station with play-by-play talent Jason Crowder. Live statistics throughout the contest will be available through the statbroacast link attached above.

Mississippi State will be the first SEC team that Colorado State has hosted inside Moby Arena in its program history. Mississippi State is 2-0 under head coach Sam Purcell versus current Mountain West members with an average margin of victory of +17.0 points.

Wednesday will be the second series meeting between Mississippi State and Colorado State. The two programs played for the first time last season on Nov. 20, 2022, when Mississippi State secured a 71-66 win inside Humphrey Coliseum behind 12 points and seven rebounds from now graduate student center Jessika Carter.

Mississippi State is 24-5 overall in non-conference contests under Purcell.

Colorado State enters the contest 9-1 on the season and with the second highest NET ranking of any opponent that Mississippi State has faced in its non-conference schedule. The Rams are exceptional at moving the ball without turning it ranking second nationally with only 9.2 turnovers and fourth with a +1.73 assist-turnover ratio per game.

The Rams are also a dangerous unit from three, standing third nationally with 10.4 threes made per game and eight with a 39.7 percentage from behind the arc.

Colorado State's graduate student guard McKenna Hofschild ranks 12th nationally with 21.8 points and leads the country with 8.4 assists per game.

It will be a battle of two of the nation's top point guards in Hofschild and Mississippi State's graduate student guard Lauren Park-Lane – who were in the same recruiting class and played the 2019-20 season at Seton Hall.

Park-Lane has led the team in assists in 12 of 13 games and has dished out 63 assists over the last eight games – 7.9 assists per game – compared to 19 over the first five. She ranks fifth nationally and leads the SEC with 82 total assists as of Dec. 18.

Park-Lane and Hofschild are two of only three players in the nation to rank inside the top eight in terms of total assists each of the last two season with the other being Iowa's Caitlin Clark.

Carter earned Co-SEC Player of the Week and USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale National Players of the Week honors after turning in her third straight double-double in Mississippi State's 81-63 win at Memphis last time out on Dec. 17. Mississippi State swept all three contests last week due in large part to Carter's efforts as she averaged 21.7 points, 14.7 rebounds and 3.7 blocks on 57.1 percent from the field.

A Wooden Award Watch List selection, Carter is currently posting career-best averages in points, rebounds and blocks with 15.2 blocks, 9.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks on 50.8 percent from the field in 30.1 minutes per game this season. Her three straight double-doubles now extends her season total to five and her career total to 33 – a career mark that ranks second among active SEC players.

The Bulldogs are 5-0 this season and 15-0 overall under Purcell when Carter records a double-double.

With the tandem of Carter and graduate student forward Erynn Barnum, Mississippi State dominates its opponents in the paint. The Bulldogs have recorded four games this season with 50-plus points in the paint, including recording 50 paint points at Memphis, and are averaging 39.8 points in the paint. Mississippi State has outscored its 11 of its 13 opponents in its paint points and the only pair of contests that it did not were without both Carter and Barnum.

Mississippi State will be back in action as hosts to Mississippi Valley State inside Humphrey Coliseum on Friday, Dec. 29 at 5:30 p.m CT.

Mississippi State Remains On The Road To Face Colorado State

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Players Mentioned

Erynn Barnum

Jessika Carter

Lauren Park-Lane

Mississippi State University Athletics