STARKVILLE — Blair Schaefer, LaKaris Salter, and Kayla Nevitt know they likely wouldn’t be starters if the No. 11 Mississippi State women’s basketball team started the season today.
Judging from their performances Tuesday, any one or all three of them could be among the first five Bulldogs to take the court against Samford on Friday.
Schaefer scored a game-high 21 points, while Salter added 13 points to lead five players in double figures in a 128-34 victory against Mississippi College in an exhibition game before a crowd of 2,410 at Humphrey Coliseum.
“I am impressed with those kids,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said of Blair, his daughter, Salter, and Nevitt. “I thought they did exactly what I want them to do. They came in and competed. They didn’t worry about who was on the other team. It was they were going to win their battle. Offense, defense, they came in and did a great job.”
Victoria Vivians had 19 points, Breanna Richardson had 18, and Ketara Chapel added 13 on a night the Bulldogs could have named their final score against the Division II Choctaws.
But this game was more than MSU forcing 55 turnovers, making 29 steals, shooting 52.1 percent from the field, or having all 14 available players score. This game was about individuals challenging themselves to go hard and making an effort to impress their head coach for a chance to earn minutes when games count.
That’s why there were so many more revealing and important moments than the final statistics indicated.
n Even though Nevitt only had five points, the sophomore guard showcased the shooting touch Schaefer raved about last season when she drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing off a pass from Morgan William.
Nevitt backed that play up with her only other field goal, a drive from the left wing that resulted in a pull-up jump shot in the lane. On both plays, she showed confidence and didn’t hesitate to shoot, like she was prone to do last season.
n Not to be outdone, Salter had a left-hand hook in the lane with 5 minutes, 40 seconds to go in the second quarter. She followed that basket with an assortment of scoring plays that displayed her versatility. One of those sequences included an assist to Schaefer, who drained a 3-pointer.
“I feel like it starts in practice because this week in practice we have been going hard and I saw myself improving,” Salter said. “Playing against yourself, you can get complacent because you can try to do things you’re not supposed to do. The main thing is to get straight to the point and to stick to the game plan and being simple. When you do that, that impresses him.”
n Blair Schaefer delivered an effort that made a summer’s worth of hard work shooting the basketball worthwhile. In addition to her quick-trigger release from behind the arc, Schaefer showed she could score off the dribble when she created space past her defender with a move to her right and hit a pull-up jumper with 4:14 to go in the second quarter.
“I’m a shooter, but my percentage last year wasn’t as good as it can be (32.7 percent from the field) — and it still is not as good as it can be — but I just keep working on the same shots I am going to get in the game,” Schaefer said. “I am still working on shooting as much as my team wants me to shoot because I don’t, but I just need to realize they have so much confidence that they want me to shoot if anybody is going to shoot.”
Those examples were just a sample of auditions by Bulldogs hoping to make an impression. From Chapel, who converted a three-point play on an aggressive drive, to Vivians, who used an up fake to deke a defender at the 3-point line and then drained a mid-range jump shot, the Bulldogs showed they could be a more mature bunch from the group that won a school-record 27 games last season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
But a 94-point victory against a Division II opponent isn’t going to convince coach Schaefer to reserve a spot in the Final Four. He said as much after the game when he said the Bulldogs have sophomores like Schaefer and Salter who are replacing senior bench players like Kendra Grant and Savannah Carter from the 2014-15 squad.
Still, it was hard to deny MSU played with a killer instinct, especially in the first half, which showed it might be ready to take on the challenge of being the nation’s No. 11 team.
In the case of Schaefer, Salter, and Nevitt, MSU has at least three players who appear to be hungry enough to make sure the team strives to reach that level for all 40 minutes.
“It brings the team up real good (when you have shooters like Schaefer, Salter, and Nevitt coming off the bench to provide a spark),” said Vivians, who led the team in scoring last season at 14.9 points per game. “It relieves pressure from me and Dom(inique Dillingham) knowing we have people off the bench who can make shots.”
MSU will play host to Samford at 5:15 p.m. Friday in its season opener. The game is part of a doubleheader with the MSU men’s basketball team, which will play host to Eastern Washington at 8 p.m. SEC Network will broadcast the MSU men’s game live.
n In related news, MSU was picked fourth in the Southeastern Conference in a preseason poll voted on by the league’s coaches. South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas A&M were picked ahead of MSU. Vivians was one of nine players named preseason first-team All-SEC. … MSU will hold its first Hail State Hoops Luncheon of the 2015-16 season at 11:30 a.m. today in Mize Pavilion. The luncheon was rescheduled from Thursday due to the memorial service for MSU football player Keith Joseph Jr. and his father, Keith Sr. … MSU’s game against Grambling on Saturday, Nov. 21, will tip at 1 p.m.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
