Down 9 points in the 4th quarter and close to getting run out of her building, University of South Carolina coach Dawn Staley didn't panic. 
Her top-ranked Gamecocks wouldn't let her.
Tyasha Harris had a season-high 23 points and the Gamecocks rallied in the final period to win their 12th straight with a 81-79 victory over 9th ranked Mississippi State on Monday night.
Staley called time out after South Carolina trailed 71-62 with 8 minutes to go and quickly saw her players were locked in and eager to turn things around.
"Everybody was really positive in that time out," Staley said. "So I'm like, we got a shot. We've got a shot to come back because they believe."
Harris and the Gamecocks put that belief into action, snapping off a 12-2 run to get them back into the game.
Zia Cooke made a 3-point play and a basket, both which put the Gamecocks (18-1, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) back in front.
JaMya Mingo-Young had consecutive shots as Mississippi State (17-3, 4-1) built a 79-76 lead with 3:28 to go. But the Bulldogs missed their final 5 shots.
Mississippi State had several chances to go in front, but Rickea Jackson and Jordan Danberry both missed shots to put the Bulldogs back in front in the final 2 minutes.
Cooke closed it with her steal of an inbounds pass with 4 seconds left and ran out the clock.
"Let's catch it," Cooke thought as the ball came her way. "And then I need to run away from her so she can't catch me and end it."
Harris scored the final 5 points for the Gamecocks, who got a 6th victory in 7 meetings with a Top-25 opponent this season.
South Carolina freshman Aliyah Boston had 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Mississippi State looked like it might beat its 2nd straight No. 1 opponent - the first came when it famously ended UConn's 111-game win streak at the 2017 national semifinals - as it took that 9-point lead in the final period.
But the Gamecocks got their big run to move back in front on Cooke's three-point play.
"They are No. 1," Mississippi State coach Vic Schaeffer said. "But we're not far behind."
Indeed, it's likely these teams might match up again at the SEC Tournament in Greenville come March, then perhaps a final team in the Final Four as they did in 2017 when South Carolina won the title over Mississippi State.
Mingo-Young, a freshman who tied her career high with 14 points, was confident the Bulldogs would learn and recover from their missed chance.
"We'll figure this thing out," she said.
Jackson and Danberry had 16 points each to lead the Bulldogs, who saw their 8-game win streak snapped.
South Carolina came out fast, as it has all season, with seniors Harris and Herbert Harrigan steadily helping the team to a 33-21 lead with less than 7 minutes left to the half.
That's when the defending SEC champion Bulldogs dug in to tighten things up with a 21-10 surge to cut South Carolina's double-digit lead to 43-42 at the break.
Xaria Wiggins scored all 8 of her first-half points in that stretch while Jackson had a 3-point play and another bucket.
By the time Danberry shoveled a pass to 6-foot-5 Promise Taylor for a close-in basket with 3.2 seconds to go, the Bulldogs were within a point and running into the locker room with cheers and smiles.
South Carolina head to Athens, Ga. Sunday to face Georgia at 3 pm.