STARKVILLE — The gang is nearly all back.
With each day, Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer hopes Martha Alwal, Kendra Grant, and Savannah Carter are closer to being back to 100 percent health.
Through six games, though, you wouldn’t have guessed the Bulldogs could have won the Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament and gotten off to a 6-0 start largely without three seniors who played a key role in the team’s 22-14 finish last season.
But MSU’s victory against then-No. 17 West Virginia and win against Western Kentucky to clinch the Preseason WNIT title have been signature results for a program that is maturing before Schaefer’s eyes.
MSU figures to get even stronger in the weeks ahead as Alwal, Grant, and Carter get back into the rotation. Alwal, a 6-foot-4 senior center, played in her first game of the season Saturday in an 85-45 victory at New Orleans. Alwal, a first-team All-Southeastern Conference performer and the league’s co-Defensive Player of the Year, scored four points and grabbed six rebounds in eight minutes in the victory. She will play her first game in front of the home fans at 7 tonight when No. 23 MSU plays host to North Dakota State (3-2) at Humphrey Coliseum.
“We have to get Martha healthy and get her back,” Schaefer said. “She is getting closer and closer. Any time you get injured, especially in a joint, it is that confidence level that you struggle getting back. I think structurally she is sound. Now we have to get her confidence back.”
Last season, Alwal matched a career-high with 25 points and had 15 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to a 72-62 victory. The win was a homecoming of sorts for Alwal, who is from Worthington, Minnesota. Tonight’s game will be a different kind of homecoming for the team’s leading returning scorer (14.9 points per game) and rebounder (8.8). Alwal also logged the most minutes per game (33.2) in 2013-14.
That last total doesn’t figure to be as large this season. With sophomore center Chinwe Okorie (6.3 points, 6.8 rebounds) and junior forward/center Sherise Williams (6.5, 5.3) picking up the slack, MSU hasn’t been hurt by the absence of Alwal, who wasn’t available for this story.
Schaefer said Alwal looked “OK” against New Orleans. He said everybody would agree Alwal isn’t close to where she has been in the past.
That being said, MSU’s depth also has helped it make up for the absence of Alwal, Grant, who has played in two games, and Carter, who has played in one. The Bulldogs have nine players who are averaging 13.5 minutes per game or more. That number is tied for eighth in the SEC.
Schaefer said Monday that Grant continues to work back into shape, while he isn’t sure when Carter will return to the lineup. Whenever MSU gets everyone back, Schaefer knows it will be dangerous because it can go big or small and use a number of looks to make things difficult for opponents.
On the flip side, Schaefer said the biggest challenge for him could be finding a way to work Alwal, Grant, and Carter back into bigger roles in the rotation and not disrupting the chemistry and continuity the team has built in six games.
“Hopefully all of these kids will continue to work and get better,” Schaefer said. “I think today’s thought for the day is if you practice and don’t get better, practice was meaningless.
“I think the struggle for me right now with these young kids is, and we talk about it all of the time, we are really struggling to find someone to be a real good role model and to be an example every day at practice that our young kids can look up to and go, ‘Hey, that is a pro. I see what she does every day in the classroom, on the floor, practicing, in ballgames.’ ”
MSU freshman guard Kayla Nevitt said the Bulldogs are looking forward to having Alwal get back to 100 percent and be the kind of player she was last season.
“I think it is going to be better for the team because Martha is a shot blocker, she contests a lot of shots in the lane, gets a lot of rebounds, and runs the floor,” Nevitt said. “I think it is going to be better for us. As for the rotation, I think it is going to be better. With Chinwe and Sherise, there are only two of them, so they get tired. I know with Martha being back we’re going to have much more energy and a lot more shots being blocked. It is going to be a defensive change.”
Freshman guard/forward Victoria Vivians, who leads the team in scoring at 16.3 points per game, agrees. She envisions a lot more chances for her to get assists with Alwal in the post attracting defensive attention and opening space for perimeter plays.
“Like Kayla said, she is a great defensive player,” Vivians said, “so we will get more fast breaks because she is going to block shots. If I pass the ball, she will be able to catch it, grab it, and bring it down and score. I think she will be helpful to the team offensively and defensively.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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