STARKVILLE — The holiday season blitz won’t get any easier this weekend for the Mississippi State women’s basketball team.
A little more than two days after what MSU coach Vic Schaefer called a “grind-it-out” win against Southern Mississippi, No. 9 MSU will be back in action at 10 a.m. Saturday to face Florida Gulf Coast (7-3) at the Puerto Rico Classic. The game will be MSU’s first of three in three days. It will take on Western Michigan at 12:15 p.m. Sunday and SMU at 12:15 p.m. Monday before the players go their separate ways for holidays.
MSU’s latest win should help prepare it for the grind of a conference tournament-like three games in three days in that five players — all starters — scored in double figures against Southern Miss. Junior forward Ketara Chapel and sophomore point guard Morgan William led the way with 17 points, while junior guard/forward Dominique Dillingham had 15, junior center Chinwe Okorie had 13, and sophomore guard Victoria Vivians added 10.
The scoring balance was so crucial because MSU entered the game as the only team in the Southeastern Conference to have one player — Vivians — have double the number of shots than every other player on the roster. Vivians also entered the game leading the league in scoring at a little more than 20 points per game. Her average dipped to 19 ppg., which is second in the SEC behind Auburn’s Brandy Montgomery.
Schaefer hopes Chapel, William, and Dillingham continue to stay aggressive and provide complementary pieces on offense to take the pressure of Vivians. He believes the balance will give the Bulldogs confidence to know they have it in them to look to each other to deliver on offense, even if all the starters don’t play more than 31 minutes for three-straight days.
“We’re going to have to do a better job coming off the bench ready to play and ready to function,” Schaefer said. “I was disappointed in some of those who came off the bench.”
Dillingham, who was 6 of 12 from the field and added three assists in 39 minutes, agreed with Schaefer that seeing several starters take on bigger scoring loads should help the confidence of the entire team.
“On any given night somebody can step up and provide something we might need,” Dillingham said. “Victoria might not be scoring, but somebody might step up, or we might need a defensive stop and Ketara might step up. I think it does give us confidence. We’re going to be tired on the road. We have three games, so we’re going to need people to step up.”
Schaefer said the team didn’t have a good shootaround prior to the game against Southern Miss. He attributed that effort to the team’s youth and inexperience, which is why this trip should be a great teaching tool.
MSU will kick off the weekend against a Florida Gulf Coast team that won the Atlantic Sun Conference last season and advanced to the NCAA tournament last season. Florida Gulf Coast is coming off an 86-33 victory against St. Thomas University on Tuesday. Redshirt senior Whitney Knight, the reigning A-Sun Player of the Year, didn’t play in the game. The 6-foot-3 guard has played in only one game this season as she recovers from a foot injury.
MSU left early Thursday to begin its journey to Puerto Rico. He said he wasn’t sure how much the team would do Friday, but he said Florida Gulf Coast figures to present a unique challenge in that it has a bevy of 3-point shooters who have the ability to stretch a defense.
“I am anxious for my kids to have a chance to go to Puerto Rico and go to a place they have never been and experience a different culture,” Schaefer said. “This is what this is all about. I love being able to provide opportunities and being able to share that with them. I am going to have a good time with them. We’re going to have fun. It is going to be a great experience, but on game day I want them to turn into my monsters for a couple of hours and be able to go compete, and they will. There is no doubt they will.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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