TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — For 30 minutes Thursday night, the No. 4 Mississippi State women’s basketball team was immersed in one of those “knock-down, drag-out” games coach Vic Schaefer knows all too well from his years in the Southeastern Conference.
The saving grace for MSU was a third quarter in which everything seemed to flow and the defense turned a quagmire into smooth sailing. Those 10 minutes proved to be an interlude before the teams returned to the form they showed at the start that turned out to be a part of a game that featured 47 turnovers and 46 fouls.
In the end, Schaefer could point to that third quarter as his primary teaching point in a 67-54 victory against Alabama before a crowd of 2,605 at Coleman Coliseum.
Chinwe Okorie paced MSU (20-0, 6-0 SEC) with 15 points (7-of-8 shooting) and a team-high eight rebounds, while Victoria Vivians shook off a slow start and finished with 14 points.
The win helped MSU beat Alabama (14-5, 2-4) for the fourth-straight time and continue the best start in program history that has helped the Bulldogs reach 20 wins for the fourth-straight season.
Top top it off, MSU set a school record with its ninth road win of the season.
“My hat is off to Alabama. I thought they played really hard tonight,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “This is typically a knock-down, drag-out (game). Even though the score may not indicate it, I thought it was another knock-down, drag-out (game). I thought they really took it to us in the first half. I was proud of how we responded after a halftime chit chat.”
Schaefer said he didn’t yell and scream at halftime with his team leading 32-24. Instead, he said he stressed to his players that they needed to take better care of the basketball and to slow down on offense. The Bulldogs heeded his wishes in the third quarter as used a 14-0 run to turn the tide.
“That’s our team,” Schaefer said. “(We outscored them) 26-9. We were forcing turnovers and getting out in transition. We had good execution in the half-court offense.”
Okorie and Morgan William (nine points, four rebounds, five assists, three steals) had four points apiece in the spurt. As much as MSU recaptured the momentum and never was seriously challenged after the run, it still had its share of bumps in the road. Dominique Dillingham committed a turnover when she left her feet to make a pass and then didn’t deliver the ball. William also was called for a charge when she was too aggressive going to the basket. Those atypical mistakes were part of a night in which the Bulldogs also weren’t assertive on offense and threw passes away with an unusual regularity.
Schaefer wasn’t pleased with a fourth quarter that saw Alabama outscore MSU 21-9. He said his team “stunk it up” in the final 10 minutes and took responsibility for not having his team ready to go. In fact, he said again he thought the team might be feeling a little of the pressure from being one of two (No. 1 Connecticut is the other) undefeated teams left in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. Schaefer made similar comments earlier this month following a 59-51 victory at Arkansas.
“Anything we’re not doing correctly is nobody’s fault but my own,” Schaefer said. “I am in charge of this, and I have to coach better and teach better.
“We just have to make better decisions. We have some real veteran kids that we just need to do a better job coaching and teaching them and getting them to make some better decisions. We had 18 turnovers. We turned down shots, tried to make passes we’re not supposed to be making. I got to do a better job. Period.”
William didn’t think the Bulldogs felt the pressure of being 19-0 against the Crimson Tide. She said the team came out “flat” in the first quarter and wasn’t able to set a consistent tempo.
“I am the point guard, so it is my responsibility to get us going and make sure we’re ready,” William said. “When we are down, I have to lift us up and keep us in the game. That is what I tried to do.”
Still, MSU used a strong inside presence to take control. Okorie and sophomore center Teaira McCowan (10 points, four rebounds) combined to score 25 points and to grab 12 rebounds. It was their second-highest combined point total of the season. It came one game after Okorie and McCowan scored nine points in a 73-62 victory against Ole Miss, and two games after they had a season-best 38 in a victory against Florida.
“I think a night like tonight you just have to credit Mississippi State,” Alabama coach Kristy Curry said.
Alabama committed a season-high 29 turnovers, including 11 in the third quarter. It was the third time the Crimson Tide have committed 20 or more turnovers in a game, all in SEC play.
Alabama also hurt itself by going 11 of 25 (44 percent) from the free-throw line. That effort overshadowed a 41.7-percent shooting effort (20 of 48) from the field that was the team’s second-highest shooting percentage in SEC action.
Curry said MSU’s defense cause Alabama to get “hurried” in its play. She said she would have liked to have seen her post players take better care of the basketball.
“They did exactly what they wanted to do,” Curry said. “I think on a night like tonight the wost thing a coach can do is do anything other than say hey, you credit Mississippi State’s defense. … They did what they do and they did it well.”
Junior guard Hannah Cook paced Alabama with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting. She had five rebounds and three steals. Jordan Lewis and Coco Knight (10 points apiece) were the only other players in double figures for the Crimson Tide.
“We just got down on ourselves (in the third quarter),” Cook said. “We can’t do that. We didn’t take care of the ball We didn’t convert on free throws. We just have to do a better job.”
Schaefer said the same thing about his team, which will take today off. He said he hopes the rest will help the Bulldogs re-focus and come back ready to take on one of their biggest challenges of the season: a game against No. 5 South Carolina at 6 p.m. Monday (ESPN) at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. MSU and South Carolina are the only undefeated teams in the SEC.
“No. 1, I didn’t think we were ready to play, and that is my fault,” Schaefer said. “No. 2, I just feel like we’re a little tight. I thought in the third quarter we turned it loose and that is our team.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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