STARKVILLE — “Maroon Madness” is made in March.
How else could you describe a game in which one team built and lost a 13-point lead, saw the other team go on a 20-0 run, and ended in a scramble for the basketball under one of the goals?
When the players worked themselves free of the scrum on the court inside Humphrey Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi State University, the No. 5 seed MSU women’s basketball team had survived No. 4 seed Michigan State, 74-72, in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
A crowd of 7,094 watched the action.
The victory helped MSU (28-7) set a single-season record for wins and secured it a spot in the Sweet 16 of the Bridgeport Regional in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
MSU will play Saturday. The time of tipoff has not yet been set.
MSU will face the winner of tonight’s game between three-time reigning national champion Connecticut and Duquesne.
‘Just a little bit more’
“Michigan State is a tremendous basketball team,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “They are well coached, resilient, tough. I say all of that and our kids were just a little bit more. I couldn’t be prouder of the toughness that our kids showed today.
“I am pretty sure we were dead and buried. I am pretty sure there were people wondering why I didn’t call timeout during the 20-0 run. I might look back at that and think, What I was thinking? too.”
Victoria Vivians had a game-high 24 points, Morgan William had 14 points, six rebounds, nine assists, and two steals, and Breanna Richardson had 12 points off the bench to send MSU to the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history (2009-10).
The fourth-largest crowd in the Hump’s history saw a back-and-forth game in which the Bulldogs built a 51-38 lead with 5 minutes, 55 seconds left to play in the third quarter. The Spartans (25-9) answered with a 20-0 run that stretched into the fourth quarter that gave them a 60-53 lead. But Richardson had eight points and Vivians added seven in an exchange of big plays between the maroon-clad Bulldogs, who were wearing their road uniforms, and the white-clad Spartans, out of the Big Ten Conference.
Tori Jankoska, a Michigan State player, and Vivians set the stage for a wild finish when they exchanged 3-pointers in a 12-second span. Jankoska banked in a 3-pointer from the wing — in roughly the same spot where South Florida’s Courtney Williams ended MSU’s season two years ago in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament — with the shot clock running down to give the Spartans a 65-64 lead. Vivians answered with a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a 67-65 lead with 2:39 to play.
Richardson’s 3-pointer with 34 seconds left gave MSU a 72-69 lead. William hit two free throws for a 74-70 lead. Michigan State answered with two hit two free throws and had a chance to tie or win after Vivians missed two free throws, but Tori Jankoska (17 points) missed a jump shot on the block over William. Michigan State’s Jasmine Hines (15 points) rebounded the miss on the right block, but Sherise Williams blocked her shot. A scramble ensued under the basket, where the Bulldogs’ Kayla Nevitt tipped the ball to Richardson, who gave it to William to run out the final seconds.
Television replays appeared to show Nevitt out of bounds on the sequence, but no call was made. Officials reviewed the last seconds to see if time was left on the clock when William was fouled, but they determined she there was no time remaining and waved the game off.
“I thought Hines (was going to get) an offensive rebound and score,” Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant said. “There might have been some contact there, but OK, they are not going to make that call, and then (Nevitt) tipped it in out of bounds. It was an unfortunate way to end.”
Branndais Agee led Michigan State with 21 points, while Aerial Powers, the team’s leading scorer with 22 points per game entering Sunday’s action, had 14.
Ketara Chapel added eight points and five rebounds, while Teaira McCowan had eight rebounds and Dominique Dillingham had six points and five rebounds before fouling out.
Schaefer: ‘Hats off to our fans’
The win helped MSU finish the season 16-2 in Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs are 33-3 at home in the last two seasons. In those 18 games, MSU has played in front of a school-record 92,914 fans.
The Bulldogs earned the chance to play host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history because the Spartans’ home court, the Breslin Center, was being used for the state girls basketball tournament.
“I don’t think there is any doubt we don’t win that game if we’re not at home,” Schaefer said. “I think our fans were tremendous. I appreciate coach Merchant’s comments. I heard her make a comment that there were 7,000 in there and it sounded like there were 70,000. What a tremendous compliment. Our hats are off to our fans. This is what the women’s game needs.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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