OXFORD — Vic Schaefer took one for the team Thursday night.
The Mississippi State second-year women’s basketball coach accepted the blame for not putting his squad in position to close a victory against archrival Ole Miss. Leading by as many as 11 points in the second half and by seven with a little more than four minutes left in regulation, MSU couldn’t deliver the knockout blow and allowed Kenyotta Jenkins to score on an offensive rebound putback with 0.8 seconds to go in overtime that gave Ole Miss an 87-85 victory before a crowd of 1,107 at Tad Smith Coliseum.
“That one is on me,” Schaefer said. “When you are up four or down four with four (minutes) to go, it is your job as a coach to bring your team home. I didn’t do that tonight. We played well. We competed. I really liked how we competed.”
Schaefer also took the blame for putting his offense into motion with too much time remaining on the clock on what turned out to be his team’s last best chance to win the game. With the game tied at 83, MSU (14-6, 1-5 Southeastern Conference) went back to Ketara Chapel to try to make something happen. The freshman forward, who had a career-high 12 points in 22 minutes due to Breanna Richardson’s foul trouble, hit 4 of 4 free throws and scored on a layup in a back-and-forth overtime. On MSU’s next-to-last possession, Chapel moved from the right block to the left block and flashed to the elbow at the foul line. This time, though, Jenkins reacted quickly enough and knocked the ball away from behind. Chapel retrieved the loose ball, but she was out of bounds on the sideline.
“The last shot we probably rushed it a little quick,” Schaefer said. “We obviously had gone to Ketara two or three times down the stretch. You talk about some kids growing up, some freshmen that really played big for us, Richardson and Chapel really had a big night for us at the four. I am really proud of them and how they played. I thought we did a good job of attacking at that position. We tried to go to her one more time and just didn’t quite get the pass there and the kid made a great play. We probably should have held it and run something basic we’re a little more comfortable with. That being said, you don’t look any closer than here.”
Valencia McFarland (27 points, career-high tying 12 assists) then used her speed on the inbounds play to blast past the defense, but the senior point guard missed a layup on the right lane. Jenkins rebounded the ball on the weak side and scored with less than a second to go to help Ole Miss (10-10, 1-5) give Matt Insell his first SEC victory. The win also helped the Rebels earn their second-straight decision against MSU and snap a 10-game losing streak in the SEC that dated back to last season’s victory against the Bulldogs in Oxford.
While Ole Miss snapped its skid, MSU suffered its third-straight loss in the league. As tough as MSU played in a 67-63 home loss to Tennessee on Jan. 16, the latest setback stings a little more because it comes against an archrival and that the Bulldogs weren’t able to put the game away. MSU shot 55.2 percent (16 of 29) from the field in the first half, which matched its best shooting percentage in the first 20 minutes, but it led only 41-39. The Bulldogs also had more assists, fewer turnovers, and a better shooting percentage from the field than Ole Miss and capitalized on a 21-of-36 effort (58.3 percent) from the free throw line by Rebels, only to see Ole Miss’ 44-38 rebounding edge and a 20-8 deficit in second-chance points prove to be their ultimate undoing.
Kendra Grant scored a team-high 20 points in 27 minutes, but she was hampered by foul trouble, as was Richardson. The freshman forward eclipsed her career-high with 16 of her 18 points in the first half. She continued to mature by taking the ball aggressively to the basket and powering up through contact. Unfortunately, Richardson was whistled for a fourth foul with 15 minutes, 21 seconds to go on a play when she appeared to have the ball and was knocked down by an Ole Miss player. Richardson fouled out with 3:54 left in regulation.
“Coach just told us to come out and attack and attack the four player,” Richardson said. “He said there is nobody out there that can guard us, so he said attack, create a train wreck, get a foul or score or both, so I had to come out and do both.
“It is sad I got in foul trouble. There were some ticky-tack fouls, but if I stay out of foul trouble, I stay in the game.”
A 3-pointer by Jerica James with 9:20 to go gave MSU its biggest lead, 63-52. Despite shooting 50 percent from the field at that point in the game, the Bulldogs could not put together enough plays to bring it home.
Schaefer also took the blame for his team’s defense on the final play, when McFarland took the inbounds pass and beat the defense for what could have been the game-winning shot.
“We didn’t play that last possession like we drew it up in the timeout,” Schaefer said. “But, again, that is part of the inexperience and the youth we have. We are really supposed to be back and keeping her from doing exactly what she did and get to the hole. We really didn’t handle it that well. Again, I have to coach better and teach better.”
Martha Alwal (17 points, 12 rebounds) added her 25th career double-double (sixth of the season), but Ole Miss limited her effectiveness by collapsing two and three players on her. The Rebels were aggressive in trying to knock the ball away from Alwal when she didn’t catch or handle it cleanly.
“Credit to them, especially in overtime,” Grant said. “The freshmen are learning and growing. The way Breanna played and Ketara as well, it is evident they are learning. They all play hard. That is who they are and what they do. We all feed off each other, and it is sad we didn’t come out on top.”
MSU will play host Missouri at 2 p.m. Sunday (SportSouth) in the team’s “We Back Pat” game at Humphrey Coliseum. “We Back Pat” is an initiative by a foundation formed by the former Tennessee women’s basketball coach that is fighting against Alzheimer’s disease
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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