MSU women’s basketball comes up short to Notre Dame in second round

South Bend, Ind. — Mississippi State women’s basketball finished just a game shy of the Sweet Sixteen — falling 53-48 to 3-seed Notre Dame. The Bulldogs played the Irish close and until the very end, but in the end, they came up just five points short.

It was a defensive battle from the jump — and it had to be for the Bulldogs as they made just one of their first 10 field goal attempts.

More shots started to fall for MSU after the opening minutes but the team missed several open layups and shot just 50% from the free throw line in the first half. 

Despite its offensive inefficiency and playing in a tough road environment, the Bulldogs’ defense helped contain the Irish lead to just three points at halftime. 

But things started to unravel out of the break. Notre Dame started the second half on a 7-0 run, thanks to a couple of MSU turnovers and missed shots.

They managed to end the third quarter down by only eight points, but it felt larger.

That’s when the Bulldogs turned it on to start the fourth — eliminating that deficit with an 8-0 run themselves. The run was fueled by a pair of 3-pointers from Kourtney Weber to tie the game at 41 after MSU started 0-14 from range.  

But that would be the last the Bulldogs would score from the field for the next six minutes. In that time, Notre Dame took back its edge to go up 48-42. That’s when Kourtney Weber stepped up to knock down another big 3-pointer with just over a minute to play in the game to cut it to a three-point Irish lead. 

But MSU couldn’t get the buckets in the final minute to equalize things. They finished the season with a 22-11 record.