Dores Fall In Double Overtime

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt women’s basketball team dropped an 85-77 decision to Mississippi State on Thursday in the first double overtime game at Memorial Gymnasium in over 35 years.

In a tight battle featuring 13 lead changes and 12 ties, it was Mississippi State outscoring Vanderbilt, 13-5 in the second overtime period to finally pull away from the Commodores. It’s the first double overtime contest for Vandy under head coach Shea Ralph, while it was the ninth double overtime game in program history. Additionally, it was the first double overtime game at Memorial Gym since the 1989-90 season, when the Dores dropped a 96-93 decision to Auburn on Jan. 20, 1990.

With the loss, Vanderbilt extends its losing streak to three games. The Commodores are now 18-7 overall and 5-6 in SEC play. Mississippi State improves to 18-8 and 5-7 in league games.

Sophomore Khamil Pierre registered her 13th double-double of the season with a 24-point, 12-rebound effort against the Bulldogs. Pierre has scored 20-plus points in three-straight contests. Her 24-point performance marks the 26th time over the last 27 games that the 6-2 forward score registered double-digit points.

Pierre led a quartet of double-digit scorers for the Commodores. Sophomore Madison Greene came off the bench and hit four 3-point field goals en route to a 17-point performance. It is the ninth time this season that Greene has scored 10-plus points in a reserve role.

Freshman Mikayla Blakes filled up the stat sheet against the Bulldogs. The six-time SEC Freshman of the Week registered 13 points, pulled down a career-high nine rebounds, collected five steals, and dished out four assists. Senior Iyana Moore tallied 10 points and handed out a season-best five assists.

The Commodores shot 37.2 percent from the floor against MSU, while the Bulldogs posted a 38.9 percent field goal percentage. Mississippi State outrebounded Vanderbilt, 65-43, led by Madina Okot’s 23-rebound performance. MSU outscored Vandy 66-30 in the paint and held a 24-9 edge in second chance points.

How It Happened
An early 8-0 run by the Commodores turned a 6-4 deficit for Vanderbilt into a 12-6 lead that forced Mississippi State to call a timeout. Dores strung together seven-straight points late in the first to take a double-digit lead at 19-9 at the end of the quarter.

A 3-pointer from sophomore Justine Pissott gave the Commodores a 25-16 lead at the 7:37 mark of the second stanza. Mississippi State rolled off 11-straight points after that to take a 27-25 advantage with 2:36 remaining before halftime. Greene put the Dores back on top in the closing seconds of the quarter, as her third 3-pointer of the half gave Vandy a 31-29 edge going into halftime.

The Bulldogs used a 6-1 early in the third to retake the lead at 37-26. Graduate Jordyn Oliver knotted the game up at 48-all with 1:32 left in the third. Mississippi State scored the final five points of the frame to go up 53-48, but after a review, it was deemed a Bulldog 3-pointer was made after the shot clock had expired to make it a 50-48 MSU advantage going into the fourth quarter.

The Commodores opened the fourth on a 10-1 run to take a 58-51 lead with 6:16 left to play. The Bulldogs punched back with an 8-2 spurt to cut Vanderbilt’s lead to 62-61 with 3:29 remaining. Pierre sank a huge 3-point field goal with 2:58 remaining that put the Dores up 65-61. MSU held Vanderbilt scoreless over the next two minutes, as the Bulldogs tied it up at 65-all with 25 seconds left. Vanderbilt’s defense stood tall on the final possession of regulation, as the Commodores forced the Bulldogs into a wild shot attempt that didn’t hit the rim to send the game into overtime.

In the first extra stanza, neither team held a lead larger than three points. Mississippi State held a 70-67 advantage before an old-fashioned 3-point play by Moore pulled Vanderbilt even with MSU at 70-70 with 1:35 on the clock. Mississippi State took a 72-70 lead on the ensuing possession, but a Blakes’ jumper with one second remaining knotted the game back up at 72-all to send the contest to a second overtime period.

Mississippi State outscored the Commodores, 13-5, in double overtime, as the Bulldogs posted the eight-point victory.

Head Coach Shea Ralph on the Result
“It’s disappointing to lose a game at home in that fashion. I thought our players battled hard all the way to the end. I want to say that the end of the game is on me. I should’ve told the ref I wanted to call a timeout before the inbounds pass, but that wasn’t the case. Not that was the reason (we lost), there were some other things as well. Obviously, giving up 66 points in the paint. They had 24 second chance points, and their big kid had 23 rebounds. That’s been plaguing us all year. That being said, I felt like we had the game won.

“We should’ve still been able to execute. I thought our shot selection down the stretch wasn’t great. We were trying to play Khamil through cramps. That didn’t exactly work out well. I’m going to go back and look at the film, but it seemed like, especially in that first overtime the wind just got taken out of our sails. That to me is making sure we’re prepared for the moment, making sure we have trust in each other to execute, and communicating well on the floor. We got mixed up with a couple of play calls, and as a leader, that is on me. There were moments where we could’ve executed better and won the game.”

Up Next
Vanderbilt heads back on the road Sunday as the Commodores travel to Auburn to take on the Tigers. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. and airs live on SEC Network.

Dore Notes

• Sophomore Khamil Pierre notched her third straight game with 20 or more points, scoring 24 against Mississippi State on Thursday night
• Her 23 points is the 15th time the sophomore has dropped 20 points or more on the year, and the sixth time in SEC play
• Pierre has produced double-digit scoring in 26 of her last 27 contests
• The sophomore also grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds, her 14th time this season collecting at least 10 rebounds in a game
• The 24-point, 12-rebound double-double is Pierre’s 13th this year
• Pierre has converted at least one bucket from deep in three of her last four games after making just one 3-pointer over her first 20 contests
• With two steals, Pierre now has multiple takeaways in five of her last six games
• Sophomore Madison Greene added a 17-point effort off the bench on 6-for-11 shooting
• Greene drained four threes in the contest, the most off the bench in her career
• She also tied her most three-point baskets made in a half, converting three in the first 20 minutes of play
• It is Greene’s ninth time this season scoring double figures off the bench, and her first double-digit scoring game since Jan. 23 against Arkansas
• Senior Iyana Moore dished out a team-high five assists versus the Bulldogs, her fourth game with five or more this season
• Freshman Mikayla Blakes extended her double-digit scoring streak to 11 games with a 13-point effort
• Blakes finished with a career-high nine rebounds and four assists
• The freshman forced at least five steals for the third time this season, the first time since Dec. 19, 2024
• The 85-77 loss drops the Commodores to 28-25 in the all-time series
• The double overtime finish is the first double overtime game since Feb. 6, 2011, in a 103-97 win over Florida
• In total, it is the ninth double overtime game in program history, in which the Commodores are now 4-5
• Vanderbilt falls to 19-7 all-time against the Bulldogs at Memorial Gymnasium
• Vandy drilled seven threes against Mississippi State, ending a 4-for-20 spell across its last two games
• The Commodores nabbed 15 total steals, the 17th time this season with double-digit steals and the fifth such occurrence in SEC play

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