STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State women’s basketball team needs Ketara Chapel.
It doesn’t matter that the Bulldogs have 13 other players capable of stepping in and contributing. For No. 18 MSU to continue its growth and to play at the highest level, it needs all of its pieces to come together and complement each other.
For Chapel, that means delivering more efforts like the one she had Thursday in a 69-44 victory against Vanderbilt. The final statistical line — four points, three rebounds, two assists, one turnover — might not appear to be significant, but Chapel’s performance provided a needed spark in the second half when MSU was trying to seal the deal on its fourth-straight Southeastern Conference victory. MSU (22-2, 7-2 SEC) will need a similar performance by Chapel at 2 p.m. today when it takes on No. 6 Tennessee (18-3, 8-0) at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee.
“It has kind of been like a struggle because I have been getting, ‘Oh, Ketara hasn’t been playing well,’ so my minutes have been going down, and Bre(anna Richardson) has been playing really well,” Chapel said. “I have been having a tough month so far, not practicing good, not coming ready to play in the games.”
Chapel said she has talked to MSU coach Vic Schaefer and coach Richard Akins, the team’s strength and conditioning coach, in an effort to change things. She said she felt her effort Thursday night is going to help her get back on track. Even though she didn’t score in double figures, the 6-foot-1 sophomore forward played 15 of her 18 minutes in the second half to help the Bulldogs pull away. Chapel had an assist off a lob pass to senior center Martha Alwal in the lane. She followed that up by dribbling into a jump shot on the baseline.
Later in the half, she had an offensive rebound and putback and another entry pass to Alwal, who was able to score on the low block.
“Bre was in foul trouble, so I knew I had to step up,” Chapel said. “I came out and I played 18 minutes. I thought I played good in delivering Martha the ball.”
Chapel started the first 19 games and scored in double figures in five of the first nine games of the season, including a career-high 19-point effort against West Virginia in the Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament. But Chapel played only five and six minutes, respectively, in victories against Ole Miss and Auburn prior to the game against Vanderbilt. While Richardson played well in both games, logging 35 and 33 minutes, respectively, Chapel hadn’t scored more than six points since she had seven in a victory against Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 15, 2014. Chapel said confidence was a big part of her struggles. She said her performance against the Commodores should help her regain some of the form she showed in the preseason and early in the year.
In 24 games, Chapel is averaging 5.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in 18.8 minutes per game. She is shooting 52.3 percent from the field. Richardson is averaging 8.8 points and 5.9 rebounds in 21.4 minutes. She is shooting 44 percent from the field.
“I am just trying to go back to how I was playing in the preseason,” Chapel said. “I think I am getting my confidence so, hopefully, I will be ready for the Tennessee game.”
Schaefer has said several times this season it doesn’t matter who starts because the Bulldogs have enough depth to mix and match parts. With Richardson having started the past five games and Alwal having moved into the starting lineup, Schaefer said that doesn’t mean players like Chapel or sophomore center Chinwe Okorie, who started the first 21 games, can take the rest of the season off. Instead, he said the team needs everyone on the bench to continue to push in practice and to be ready when they are called on in games.
“Ketara came in in the second half and played well when Bre was struggling,” Schaefer said. “I was proud for her. She was 2-for-2 (from the field). She has not been playing well, but she got a big offensive rebound and a stick back and played 18 minutes.
“I need Ketara Chapel. Our team needs Ketara Chapel to play better. I am really excited for her because I thought she played well.”
Chapel said it doesn’t make any difference if she starts or comes off the bench. She knows her role is similar to the one freshman Morgan William plays with senior Jerica James. The two point guards share playing time, and, as Schaefer has shown this season, when one is playing well, that player gets the majority of the playing time.
Chapel hopes her contributions against Vanderbilt are just the start to a more consistent final stretch to the regular season. MSU will face three more ranked teams (No. 12 Texas A&M, No. 10 Kentucky, and No. 1 South Carolina) in the final seven regular-season games. After that, the team will head to the SEC tournament in Little Rock, Arkansas, and, most likely, a return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2009-10 season, when MSU advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.
Chapel also knows players like Kendra Grant and Savannah Carter will play valuable roles in the Bulldogs’ postseason push.
“We have so much talent,” Chapel said. “You take out five and bring another five in and nobody can stop us, just like the last two minutes (against Vanderbilt) when coach put all of the freshmen in LaKaris (Salter) got five points in like 30 seconds, they got stops, Blair delivered the ball to Chinwe and Chinwe finished. We have a lot of talent, so it is going to be hard to guard us. So many people bring so much to the table, so when they are scouting us they don’t know what to do.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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