2020–21 Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball team

The 2020–21 Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball team will represent Mississippi State University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Bulldogs, led by first-year head coach Nikki McCray-Penson, will play their home games at Humphrey Coliseum and will compete as members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

2020–21 Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 22
AP	No. 24
2020–21 record	8–5 (3–4 SEC)
Head coach	Nikki McCray-Penson (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Keith Freeman Scepter Brownlee Brittany Young
Home arena	Humphrey Coliseum

2020–21 SEC women's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 South Carolina	10	–	0		1.000			15	–	1		.938
No. 7 Texas A&M	8	–	1		.889			17	–	1		.944
No. 18 Tennessee	6	–	1		.857			12	–	3		.800
No. 25 Georgia	6	–	4		.600			14	–	4		.778
No. 15 Kentucky	6	–	4		.600			13	–	5		.722
LSU	6	–	4		.600			8	–	8		.500
Alabama	5	–	5		.500			12	–	5		.706
No. 24 Mississippi State	3	–	4		.429			8	–	5		.615
No. 16 Arkansas	4	–	5		.444			14	–	6		.700
Missouri	2	–	6		.250			6	–	7		.462
Ole Miss	2	–	7		.222			8	–	7		.533
Florida	2	–	7		.222			9	–	8		.529
Auburn	0	–	9		.000			5	–	12		.294
Vanderbilt	0	–	3		.000			4	–	4		.500
Vanderbilt suspended their season on January 21, 2021
† 2021 SEC Tournament winner As of February 5, 2021; Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Bulldogs finished the season with a 27–6 overall record and a 13–3 record in conference play. The Bulldogs lost to South Carolina in the Championship of the SEC Tournament. Head coach Vic Schaefer resigned following the season to become head coach at Texas. Former Old Dominion head coach Nikki McCray-Penson was hired to replace him.[1][2]

Offseason

Departures

Mississippi State Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Notes
Jayla Hemingway	00	G	5'11"	Freshman	Collierville, TN	Transferred to West Virginia.
Andra Espinoza-Hunter	2	G	5'11"	Junior	Ossining, NY	Transferred to Seton Hall.
Promise Taylor	13	G	6'5"	Sophomore	Issaquah, WA	Retired from basketball.
Bre'Amber Scott	23	G	5'11"	Junior	Little Rock, AR	Transferred to Little Rock.
Jordan Danberry	24	G	5'11"	Senior	Conway, AR	Graduated.
Chloe Bibby	55	F	6'1"	Junior	Warracknabeal, Australia	Transferred to Maryland.

2020 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Madison Hayes #7 G	Chattanooga, TN	East Hamilton High School	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN:   ESPN grade: 97
Charlotte Kohl C	Giessen, Germany	Theo Koch Schule	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources:

Incoming transfers

Mississippi State Bulldogs Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous school
Caterrion Thompson	23	G	5'11"	RS Senior	Lima, OH	Bowling Green

Preseason

SEC media poll

The SEC media poll was released on November 17, 2020 with the Bulldogs selected to finish in fifth place in the SEC.[3]

Media poll
Predicted finish	Team
1	South Carolina
2	Kentucky
3	Texas A&M
4	Arkansas
5	Mississippi State
6	Tennessee
7	LSU
8	Alabama
9	Georgia
10	Missouri
11	Ole Miss
12	Florida
13	Vanderbilt
14	Auburn

Preseason All-SEC teams

The Bulldogs had two players selected to the preseason all-SEC teams.

First team Rickea Jackson

Second team Jessika Carter

Roster

2020–21 Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G 0 JaMya Mingo-Young 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) So Loranger HS Bogalusa, LA G 1 Myah Taylor 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) RS Jr Olive Branch HS Olive Branch, MS G 3 Aliyah Matharu 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) So Bishop McNamara HS Washington, D.C. F/C 4 Jessika Carter 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Jr Harris County HS Waverly Hall, GA F 5 Rickea Jackson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) So Detroit Edison Public School Academy Detroit, MI F/C 10 Sidney Cooks 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) RS Jr St. Joseph Catholic Academy Michigan State Kenosha, WI G 11 Xaria Wiggins 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Jr Princess Anne HS Virginia Beach, VA C 20 Yemiyah Morris 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) Sr Canyon Springs HS Cochise College San Bernardino, CA G 21 Madison Hayes 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Fr East Hamilton HS Chattanooga, TN C 22 Charlotte Kohl 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Fr Theo Koch Schule Giessen, Germany G 23 Caterrion Thompson 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) RS Sr Lima Senior HS Bowling Green Lima, OH	Head coach Nikki McCray-Penson (Tennessee) Assistant coach(es) Keith Freeman (Huntington) Scepter Brownlee (San Francisco) Brittany Young (Francis Marion) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 28, 2020* 9:00 am	No. 6	vs. Maine Hall of Fame Challenge	Canceled due to COVID-19					Mohegan Sun Arena  Uncasville, CT
November 29, 2020* 4:00 pm	No. 6	Jackson State	W 88–58	1–0	19 – Jackson	9 – Mingo–Young	7 – Taylor	Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
December 2, 2020*	No. 6	New Orleans	W 106–51	2–0	23 – Carter	10 – Carter	5 – Tied	Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
December 5, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN+	No. 6	at South Florida	L 63–67 ^OT	2–1	18 – Jackson	9 – Tied	1 – Tied	Yuengling Center  Tampa, FL
December 12, 2020*	No. 12	at Southern Miss	Canceled due to COVID-19					Reed Green Coliseum  Hattiesburg, MS
December 14, 2020* 7:00 pm, SECN+	No. 13	Troy	W 103–76	3–1	30 – Jackson	7 – Tied	9 – Tied	Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
December 18, 2020* 7:00 pm, SECN+	No. 13	Southern	W 79–55	4–1	17 – Carter	11 – Carter	6 – Mingo-Young	Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
December 20, 2020* 3:00 pm, SECN	No. 13	Central Arkansas	W 72–48	5–1	29 – Carter	15 – Carter	4 – Tied	Humphrey Coliseum (1,000) Starkville, MS
SEC regular season
December 31, 2020 6:00 pm, SECN+	No. 12	at Georgia	W 69–62	6–1 (1–0)	13 – Tied	6 – Cooks	6 – Mingo-Young	Stegeman Coliseum  Athens, GA
January 3, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 12	No. 13 Kentucky	L 86–92 ^OT	6–2 (1–1)	23 – Jackson	13 – Carter	4 – Matharu	Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
January 7, 2021 5:00 pm, SECN+	No. 14	at Florida	W 68–56	7–2 (2–1)	25 – Carter	15 – Carter	4 – Jackson	O'Connell Center  Gainesville, FL
January 10, 2021 5:00 pm, SECN	No. 14	Ole Miss	W 60–56	8–2 (3–1)	19 – Carter	9 – Carter	8 – Taylor	Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
January 14, 2021 7:00 pm, SECN+	No. 14	Alabama	L 78–86	8–3 (3–2)	15 – Tied	9 – Carter	6 – Taylor	Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
January 17, 2021 Noon, ESPN2	No. 14	at No. 7 Texas A&M	L 41–69	8–4 (3–3)	14 – Taylor	8 – Tied	3 – Hayes	Reed Arena  College Station, TX
January 28, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN	No. 21	No. 4 South Carolina	L 52–75	8–5 (3–4)	15 – Jackson	10 – Carter	5 – Taylor	Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
February 1, 2021 6:00 pm, SECN		at Vanderbilt	Canceled due to Vanderbilt ending season[4]					Memorial Gymnasium  Nashville, TN
February 4, 2021 7:00 pm, SECN+	No. 24	No. 18 Tennessee						Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
February 11, 2021 8:00 pm, SECN		at Arkansas						Bud Walton Arena  Fayetteville, AR
February 14, 2021 3:00 pm, SECN		at Ole Miss						The Pavilion at Ole Miss  Oxford, MS
February 18, 2021 8:00 pm, SECN		Auburn						Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
February 21, 2021 2:00 pm, SECN+		at Alabama						Coleman Coliseum  Tuscaloosa, AL
February 25, 2021 6:00 pm, SECN+		at LSU						Pete Maravich Assembly Center  Baton Rouge, LA
February 28, 2021 3:00 pm, SECN		Missouri						Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, MS
SEC Tournament
March 3–7, 2021								Bon Secours Wellness Arena  Greenville, SC
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. [5]

See also

• 2020–21 Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball team

References

1. Voepel, Mechelle (April 5, 2020). "Texas hires Mississippi State's Vic Schaefer as new head coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
2. Robb, Courtney (April 9, 2020). "Mississippi State to Name Nikki McCray-Penson Women's Head Basketball Coach". Columbus, MS: WCBI. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
3. https://www.secsports.com/article/30335339/gamecocks-tabbed-2021-sec-women-basketball-champs
4. Feinberg, Adam (January 18, 2021). "Vanderbilt women's basketball season discontinued over COVID-19, depleted roster". The Tennessean. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
5. "Women's Hoops 2020-21 Schedule Announced". HailState.com. Retrieved November 17, 2020.