DALLAS — On the concourse of the American Airlines Center just before midnight Friday, hundreds of Mississippi State fans leaving from their team’s Final Four match-up were loudly chanting “Maroon!” A near equal number of others quickly chanted back “White!”
The palpable senses of excitement, relief and disbelief were obvious on their faces and in their voices. Just moments before, they had watched junior point guard Morgan William sink a game-winning jumper that snapped Connecticut’s 111-game winning streak and sent the Mississippi State women’s basketball team to yet another program first — the NCAA national championship game.
Before the game, few thought those fans would be chanting about much of anything by the end.
“It was destiny,” John Cox of West Point exclaimed as he waited in line to leave the arena. “I’m glad they played UConn. And for Morgan William to hit that shot, it was just, it was destiny.
“A UConn fan told me earlier today, ‘I wish you guys good luck, but not tonight,'” he added. “I told him, ‘OK, then wish us luck on Sunday.’ … Now it’s time to go win a national championship.”
William’s shot capped a 66-64 overtime thriller that denied the tournament favorite Huskies a chance for their fifth straight title. It also avenged a 98-38 loss to UConn in last year’s Sweet 16 round, one the media covering the Final Four this week had brought up to the team, the fans and head coach Vic Schaefer regularly.
Lynn Love of Eupora, who attended Friday’s historic contest with her husband Richard, isn’t even a basketball fan. She said before this year she actually “hated the game.” Even so, there she stood in the arena awestruck, having trouble finding words for what she saw, and trying to figure out how to score tickets for today’s championship game against South Carolina.
“I don’t even know what to say or where to start,” she said. “It was incredible. … I just got all involved watching this team (early) this season. There’s just something about them and the way they play. And there’s just something about Morgan William that I really like.”
For the UConn fans’ part, they seemed gracious in defeat, some even lauding MSU’s effort as they peacefully filed out of the arena.
“They played a great game and deserved to win,” said Janet Witkowski of Stanford, Connecticut, who came to the game wearing Husky blue and gray. “(MSU) wasn’t intimidated at all, and when the better team wins, you have to appreciate it.”
Her friend, California resident Gloria McKay, observed the shocking loss with similar matter-of-factness.
“MSU set the pace from the beginning, and Connecticut could never really catch up,” she said.
Neither was disappointed, they said. Given UConn’s history — 11 total championships and 18 Final Fours — they noted it didn’t seem right to be upset.
“We’ve won four (championships) in a row,” Witkowski said. “How can we possibly be upset?”
Even for Bulldog fans, elation came on different levels Friday. In the case of Bethany Piggott, who played basketball at MSU from 2005-07, seeing the Bulldog program rise to the top is a years-long dream finally brought to fruition.
“I always wanted to come to a Final Four as a player,” she said. “To think of what this team has done, it’s just unreal. These girls play for each other, they play so hard, and you can feel that as a fan watching them.”
Now Piggott, like Cox, the Loves and so many others, must extend her stay beyond what even she may have expected. Also, she is looking for tickets for this evening.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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