STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State women’s basketball team is a step closer to adding what could be a key piece to the puzzle.
On the other hand, the Bulldogs still aren’t sure when one of their top players from the 2012-13 season will return.
MSU coach Vic Schaefer said Wednesday that freshman Chinwe Okorie came out of the boot she was wearing to protect her broken left foot. Schaefer said Okorie wore the cast for two weeks and that she still was limited to non-weight bearing activity. He said she will have to ride the bicycle in an attempt to maintain her conditioning. He hopes she will be in that situation for another two weeks.
Schaefer also said he has received the necessary paperwork from Lagos, Nigeria, Okorie’s native country, that he hopes will help the NCAA clear her to begin playing. Unfortunately, he said the NCAA hasn’t received the same paperwork from Nigeria and that it won’t accept it from him because it wants to determine if Okorie is eligible to play on its own.
Okorie, a 6-foot-5 center, played last season at Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield, Mass. She averaged 15 points and 15 rebounds per game, and earned an invitation to play in the New England Prep School All-Star Game following the season. She also was a standout on the volleyball and lacrosse teams, and was named the Stoneleigh-Burnham Athlete of the Year Award.
Okorie figures to add depth in the frontcourt to back up junior center Martha Alwal. Without Carnecia Williams, sophomore Sherise Williams and freshman Ketara Chapel are the only front-court reserves who play key roles in the rotation. Chapel missed MSU’s 111-38 victory against New Orleans on Sunday.
Schaefer said Sunday after the New Orleans game that Carnecia Williams, a 6-3 junior forward, isn’t with the team for an undetermined amount of time as she addresses academic and personal matters he said are more important for her. Williams wasn’t with the team on the bench, but Schaefer said Wednesday she is still in school. He said Sunday he didn’t have a feel one way or another if she would be back with the team.
Williams had surgery in the offseason to help repair a knee cap that would become displaced. The surgery limited her time in offseason workouts and put her behind her teammates at the start of the preseason. She has yet to play in a game this season after averaging 8.3 points and 4.9 rebounds in 30 games (25 starts) last season. Despite recurring problems with her knee, Williams averaged 25.5 minutes a game and shot 52.3 percent from the field, the best shooting percentage on the team among regulars.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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