An alarming 22 turnovers plague A&M in loss to Mississippi State, 74-63

Protecting the basketball and home court are absolute musts to find success in the SEC.

Not doing so can result in winnable games slipping through your fingertips. Literally.

That is what happened to Texas A&M on Sunday at Reed Arena as an alarming 22 turnovers plagued the Aggies offensively and allowed Mississippi State to head home victorious, 74-63.

"I don't think I would say it's because we had a week off. We were just really careless with the basketball," head coach Joni Taylor said. "(Mississippi State) is a really good team. We just have to be better and make better decisions with the ball."

From start to finish, the ballhandling woes were apparent.

On the surface, what appeared to be a potent 11-2 start for the Aggies was watered down by four wasted possessions.

Zoe Kelton, TexAgs

Rogers led the Aggies with 17 points on Sunday afternoon. Additionally, she only had one turnover in the contest.

After the Bulldogs' initial bucket, they did not score again until the 5:28 mark. A&M scored 11 unanswered points, with five coming from Endyia Rogers in that stretch.

The visitors crept back because of A&M's miscues. A 10-2 Mississippi State run closed the gap before the lead was stolen in the second.

The turnover bug kept biting and killed A&M's offensive consistency, leading to just a six-point second quarter.

Transition buckets were the heartbeat of Mississippi State's scoring due to A&M's inability to hang onto the ball, totaling 13 turnovers at the half.

"That was just us," Rogers said. "We just turned the ball over. We were making stupid mistakes."

An 18-2 run before the break gave the Bulldogs an eight-point lead, but not a deficit that was too steep to climb out of for A&M.

The Aggies needed just five minutes to tie things up at 36-36. They only trailed by three entering the final frame.

It remained a tight affair until the Bulldogs ran away with it, capitalizing off of A&M's sputtering offense and sinking their free throws.

Mississippi State converted 22 of their 29 attempts at the line. Fourteen came in the final quarter.

With eight SEC games down, Taylor's Aggies have eight more to go.

Sitting at 3-5 in the league, A&M cannot afford to have games slip away if they dream of a postseason appearance.

To begin a return to .500 in conference, the Aggies will need to grab a tough win on the road on Thursday at Ole Miss.

"I liked a lot of things we did. We have to stop fouling and can't turn the ball over," Taylor said. "We have to bounce back because we are going on the road and playing a stingy team defensively and a good team offensively in Ole Miss."