Nell Fortner was hard-pressed to find a game from her seven years as Auburn’s coach that made her feel the way she did after the Tigers’ 57-45 loss to Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon.

“I don’t know what to say,” Fortner said, shaking her head in disbelief. “It was a long day for us.”

“It is one of the most disappointing losses that I think I’ve had at Auburn.”

Auburn (13-10, 6-4 SEC) could not shake off the funk it settled into during its 31-point loss to Kentucky on Thursday night.

And Mississippi State (9-13, 1-9), which had come up empty in its first nine conference games, made the Tigers pay in front of 3,047 fans at Auburn Arena.

“I think coming off a loss to Kentucky, it hurt our confidence a little bit,” said sophomore Blanche Alverson, who led Auburn with 19 points. “It’s all on us, we didn’t come ready to play today.”

After a Jordan Greenleaf layup put the Tigers up 28-26 with 3:30 to go in the first half, Auburn would not score another point for 6:47, missing six shots and committing six turnovers.

The Bulldogs scored 11 straight in that stretch, building their lead to 9 with 17:44 left in the game.

“They were just getting open shots, they were coming off screens hard, they were penetrating to the basket,” said forward Chantel Hilliard, who finished with 12 points. “We have to stop penetration and contest shots.”

Auburn came back behind 8 straight points from Hilliard, closing the lead to 37-36 with 14:22 left in the game.

But a Porsha Porter 3-pointer righted the ship for Mississippi State, which outscored the Tigers, 20-9, the rest of the way.

Porter led the Bulldogs with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including a 5-of-6 mark from beyond the arc.

They finished 8-of-15 from 3-point range, including a 2-of-4 performance from Mary Kathryn Govero, who finished with 12 points.

“I want them to be hard-nosed and mentally tough and find a way to win a ball game,” Bulldogs coach Sharon Fanning-Otis said. “Hopefully we are maturing as a team. Success breeds success, so as you learn to win it is more of an anticipation.”

After getting through the first half of the conference season with only two losses, Auburn has hit a serious offensive rut in two straight defeats to Kentucky and Mississippi State.

The Tigers averaged 41.5 points and 25.5 turnovers over the past two games, shooting a paltry 33.0 percent from the field.

Auburn faltered especially in the second half Sunday, shooting just 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) after the break against the Bulldogs.

“Our offense is not good right now,” Fortner said. “We’re not shooting the ball well and not getting enough shots on the floor. We have to figure how to get better shots on the floor and make a few more.”

It didn’t help matters that senior Alli Smalley was playing at far less than 100 percent.

Smalley, the Tigers’ second-leading scorer, was not among the Tigers’ starters for the first time since her freshman season, breaking a string of 106 games.

Fortner said she missed two days of practice with strep throat during the week, and decided to bring Smalley off the bench.

Smalley, whose games started streak is second in school history behind Kristen Mulligan’s 118, finished with 5 points on 2-of-7 shooting and five turnovers.

“She’s our senior leader, she helps to get us going on offense,” Alverson said. “She missed the last two days of practice so we had to try and adjust off of that.”

Auburn held its “Pink Zone” game for breast cancer awareness Sunday, and Alfa Insurance donated $5,000 to the Montgomery-based Joy to Life Foundation.

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