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Mississippi State basketball: Lauren Park-Lane thrives in loss vs. Miami

By Ethan Lee

Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell yells to the court during a game between the Tennessee Lady Vols and the Mississippi State Bulldogs, in Thompson-Boling Arena, in Knoxville, Tenn., Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023.Ladyvolsmissstate0105 1268
Mississippi State head coach Sam Purcell yells to the court during a game between the Tennessee Lady Vols and the Mississippi State Bulldogs, in Thompson-Boling Arena, in Knoxville, Tenn., Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023.Ladyvolsmissstate0105 1268 /
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While Sam Purcell’s Mississippi State basketball team didn’t come out on top, Lauren Park-Lane was remarkable for the MSU Bulldogs. 

In Mississippi State’s 74-68 loss to the visiting Miami Hurricanes, a depleted and thin Mississippi State women’s basketball roster desperately needed someone to step up and keep the Bulldogs within striking distance.

Lauren Park-Lane happened to do far more than just that. She gave MSU a very realistic shot at competing in this game with her remarkable and relentless performance against the Hurricanes. And despite this defeat, Park-Lane gave the Bulldogs plenty to be excited about.

The thrilling and talented playmaker played an insane 39 minutes in this game (injury and depth issues suck, by the way). In that amount of time, she managed to score 20 points off of 8-15 shooting from the floor. As part of MSU’s impressive three point barrage throughout the game that kept State competitive, Park-Lane hit 2-6 from downtown.

She constantly attacked the Hurricanes’ defense and kept Miami on their heels.

But scoring wasn’t all that Park-Lane brought to the table Wednesday evening. Miami couldn’t stop her from having an impact on this contest and in what seemed to be an effortless showing, Park-Lane dished out 10 assists throughout the game.

Mississippi State basketball: Lauren Park-Lane performs incredible well vs. Miami Hurricanes

In this contest, the Bulldogs certainly needed someone to play at an absurdly high level for Mississippi State to have a shot at keeping this close and for a while it seemed like State could have a shot at winning.

That can’t totally be attributed to Park-Lane, but a lot of it can.

With Jessika Carter out and other injury and illness issues popping up, Mississippi State was down to playing seven players when the Bulldogs faced the Hurricanes. That’s far from being the ideal situation that Purcell wants his team to be in right now.

But Park-Lane gave State a shot against Miami and if the Bulldogs are going to continue finding success, it seems plausible that MSU will turn to Park-Lane to try and find ways to win going forward.

She’ll need some help. Others will need to step up a bit. And it’s probably not fair asking her to try to average a double-double involving 20 points and 10 rebounds.

That’s just a lot.

But maybe Park-Lane can continue to deliver and thrill Mississippi State basketball fans.

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