STARKVILLE — Ketara Chapel was back in her comfort zone.
Four days after an illness kept her from playing against Northwestern State, Chapel looked back to her old self against LSU. The Mississippi State senior forward also had something to prove to herself and to coach Vic Schaefer, so she set out Sunday to take care of business.
In one of her best games of the campaign, Chapel had a season-high six points and two rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench to help No. 5 MSU beat LSU 74-48 before a crowd of 5,849 at Humphrey Coliseum.
“Coach told me I needed to play better,” Chapel said. “It felt good to be back out there playing.”
Chapel said she was sick to her stomach, light-headed, and couldn’t breathe Wednesday when MSU rolled past Northwestern State 106-30 at the Hump. Unfortunately, Chapel said she thinks she passed on whatever she had to a teammate, which likely was junior guard Blair Schaefer, who played only one minute against LSU.
Chapel said tried to work hard in practice the last few days to shake off the effects of her illness. She said she was confident she would be able to contribute in the Bulldogs’ Southeastern Conference opener, even if she didn’t know how many minutes she would get. It turns out MSU (15-0) needed Chapel to play a bigger role because starting forward Breanna Richardson scored only four points in 15 minutes.
Chapel came in with 1 minute, 8 seconds to go in the first quarter. She scored in the second quarter on a layup off a nifty dump-down pass from Teaira McCowan and on a jump shot. The 23 minutes she logged were the most she has played since she went 30 minutes in a 58-44 victory against Little Rock on Dec. 13.
“She played really well,” coach Schaefer said. “We have been dinged up a little bit. Ketara was sick for two days and didn’t really practice a lot.”
Chapel smiled when she was asked if she and Richardson, who are classmates and play the same position, are “in sync” because it seems one plays well when the other has an off game.
“We know if one person is not doing good we have to pick each other up always,” Chapel said. “There are going to be games when we both have good games.”
Chapel wasn’t sure what to expect Sunday, especially after she said MSU didn’t practice well the last two days. She said the team’s focus wasn’t there in practice, but she said she saw something different from her teammates against the Tigers.
“I guess it shocked him and we shocked ourselves as well in that we got out there and played as well as we did tonight,” Chapel said.
Dillingham plays big role in second game back
After playing 19 minutes against Northwestern State in her first game back from missing six games following knee surgery, Dominique Dillingham started and played 30 minutes and played a key role on defense.
Dillingham, who was 1 of 6 from the field and had four points, two assists, and two steals, showed she is working back into game form by taking two charges to give her 10 for the season.
Schaefer wasn’t sure if Dillingham could play 30 minutes, but he said junior guard Roshunda Johnson is still working her way back from a bone bruise on her ankle that has had her wearing a boot on her left foot. Johnson, who had moved into the starting lineup in Dillingham’s place, had five points in 10 minutes.
“I think the day tomorrow will really help Ro,” Schaefer said. “We’re going to give her one more day (off), and I think she is going to be good. I really didn’t think Dom could play 30 minutes. I thought she got tired the other night, but she played pretty hard.”
Schaefer said prior to Dillingham’s return that she would have to work the rust off her game after the knee surgery. He is confident she will be busy in the gym the next few days trying to regain her shooting touch.
Schaefer also knows Dillingham always will be helping her teammates on defense and sacrificing her body to take charges, which is great to have back.
“She does the dirty work that you have to have,” Schaefer said. “She brings a lot to the table, and our conditioning will continue to improve with her.
“She just adds a level of intensity and toughness to practice, not to mention to games.”
High praise for MSU
LSU coach Nikki Fargas knew her team faced a challenge against an experienced opponent with a significant size advantage on its home court.
Fargas’ fears were realized, as MSU held LSU to a season-low 34 percent shooting (18 of 53) from the field and a season-low scoring effort. LSU’s previous low came against UConn. The game also marked the fifth time the Tigers have had a lower field goal shooting percentage than their opponents. They are 2-3 in those games.
“I think LSU is pretty good,” Schaefer said. “The kids played pretty hard. Defensively, I have been on them. They hear me tell them every day I don’t think they’re very good defensively. I thought today we were pretty good. We held them to 19 points in the first half. In the SEC, that is pretty hard to do.”
To compound matters, LSU also committed a season-high 20 turnovers, which helped MSU build a 24-16 edge in points off turnovers. The Tigers were 0-for-4 from 3-point range and 12 of 21 from the free-throw line.
“They play a really uptempo, uphill, deny-one-pass-away, really-get-into-you type of defensive pressure,” Fargas said. “We have to do a much better job, me personally, preparing our team for that type of pressure, and our team has to welcome and not be afraid of that pressure.
“We tried to do some backdoors to relieve some of that and some on-ball screening to relieve some of that pressure, and we weren’t as effective as I thought we would be.”
Chloe Jackson led LSU with 14 points, while Raigyne Moncrief (12) was the only other player in double figures for the Tigers (11-3).
Fargas lamented numerous missed layups or shots from close range the Tigers didn’t convert. The misses helped the Bulldogs forge a 37-19 halftime lead that was never challenged.
After the game, Fargas said MSU lived up to its ranking.
“They are clearly one of the best teams in the country,” Fargas said. “Their ability to disrupt you offensively is key. I think their offensive balance is there. They do a really nice job of playing together. You can see the cohesion because even when we would get past one defender a second defender was there.
“This is a very experienced basketball team. This is a team that came off a Sweet 16 and everybody is back, so I know they have a different hunger about them.”
Bulldogs control the glass
MSU opened SEC play in style by holding a 36-28 rebounding edge. The advantage wasn’t surprising considering the Tigers didn’t have any active players as tall as senior center Chinwe Okorie (17 points, six rebounds), who is 6-foot-5, and sophomore center Teaira McCowan (three points, five rebounds, who is 6-7.
Even though the Bulldogs only parlayed their rebounding edge into a 14-11 advantage in second-chance points, they had a 38-24 cushion in points in the paint.
“We talked about it for two days, we had to dominate the five spot,” Schaefer said. “I told them if we break even we may lose. We have to go in and absolutely dominate the five spot, and I thought we did.”
Okorie fueled the Bulldogs down low by going 8 of 10 from the field. It is the third time Okorie had gone 8 of 10 from the field. She raised her field goal shooting percentage from 57.7 percent to 59.8.
Okorie said the Bulldogs executed the game plan and controlled the backboards to start conference play the right way.
“He has always talked about rebounding,” Okorie said. “It is a really huge del because if you want to win you have to play defense and you have to rebound on both ends. It has been just like a drum. He has been beating on the drum all week. It has been in my head — rebound, rebound, rebound, box out, and rebound. That is what we went into the game and did, and it really turned out good for us.”
MSU has won the rebounding battle in 14 of 15 games. Texas is the only team to outrebound MSU (36-26). Despite the deficit, MSU beat then-No. 8 Texas 79-68 on Nov. 20 in Starkville.
The eight-rebound difference matched the biggest deficit LSU has had in that category this season. No. 1 UConn outrebounded LSU 39-31 in a 76-53 victory on Nov. 20 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Tigers have been outrebounded six times.
This and that
The win helped Schaefer improve to 33-32 in SEC play in his fifth season in Starkville. He has guided the Bulldogs to 11-win campaigns the last two seasons. … Senior point guard Morgan William’s seven assists were her most since a season-high nine in an 87-43 victory against Maine on Nov. 12, 2016. … Sophomore point guard Jazzmun Holmes added six assists in 15 minutes. She has 31 assists in 85 minutes in her last four games. … MSU will take on Arkansas at 7 p.m. Thursday in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The game will be broadcast live on SEC Network+.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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