Mississippi State women's basketball freshman Tahj-Monet Bloom suffers season-ending injury
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State women's basketball has lost a player due to injury before the start of the season.
Forward Tahj-Monet Bloom, a four-star freshman, is out for the season with an ACL injury, coach Sam Purcell and the Bulldogs announced on Thursday evening. According to the team, it's a "non-sport related injury." Bloom was ranked as the No. 43 prospect nationally in the 2024 recruiting class by espnW.
"We are all heartbroken to hear the unfortunate news for Tahj," Purcell said in a statement. "Tahj is an exemplary teammate, competitor and has been everything you can ask for in a student-athlete from the moment she arrived to campus. We will continue to support her in every step of the recovery process. We know that she will work incredibly hard to return stronger than ever and do everything she can in the meantime to pour her positive spirit into her teammates and our program."
Earlier in the day, Purcell had posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Tough loss as she has a season-ending ACL injury. Keep your head up and no doubt you will bounce back strong. Your spirit & voice are contagious & we will need all of it on the sideline this season as you make us better."
Bloom, who is 6-foot-2, is originally from Japan but played high school basketball at four schools in the United States. The first three were in Illinois, while her senior season was with DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida.
According to Bloom's Instagram page, she tore her right ACL in December 2021. It's unclear if she injured the same knee. She posted on her Instagram story Thursday night and said, "I just get to be a DAWG for another year that's all."
The Bulldogs went 23-12 last season and missed the NCAA tournament.
They finalized their 2024-25 schedule on Thursday and will open the season Nov. 7 against Memphis at Humphrey Coliseum at 6:30 p.m. CT.
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Tahj-Monet Bloom ACL injury, out Mississippi State women's basketball
