GREENVILLE, S.C. — Vic Schaefer has asked nearly all of his Bulldogs the question.
“Can you take a charge?”
Call it a litmus test for Bulldog toughness. This time, though, Schaefer wasn’t sure how Ketara Chapel was going to answer the question. Ordinarily, Schaefer wouldn’t have thought twice because he knows his senior forward would do anything to help the team win.
But one day after Chapel went down in a heap in practice and tweaked her back, Schaefer didn’t know if Chapel was going to be OK, let alone if she was going to play Friday night.
Chapel’s answer said it all: “I will if I have to.”
The final 13 minutes proved Chapel was up to the task.
Strong flurry late
Chapel scored six of her 10 points at the end of the third quarter to give MSU to lead for good, and then was part of a fourth-quarter surge that pushed No. 6 MSU to a 78-61 victory against LSU in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
“Ketara, what can you say about her,” Schaefer said. “Y’all don’t know she went down yesterday in practice in a heap with her back. She has a little bit of a lower back issue. She went down and stayed down on the floor. I didn’t know if she was going to play today.
“She comes in in the second half and goes 4-for-4, 2-for-2 from the line for 10. … I’m happy for her. Between Bre(anna) Richardson and Ketara, those two are both starters. They’ve started off and on their whole career. (They are) veterans. (They have) been to the war. (They) know what it’s all about.”
Morgan William led the charge with 21 points, while Teaira McCowan had 15 points and five rebounds and Richardson added 12 points to help second-seeded MSU (28-3) tie a program record for wins in a season.
MSU needed a spark after Rina Hill hit a jump to give LSU (20-11) a 39-37 lead with 2 minutes, 57 seconds left in the third quarter. Chapel took over from there, scoring on an inbounds pass from William, who had seven assists. She followed with a drive into the middle of the lane for a basket before McCowan scored on a layup off a feed from Chapel. Dominique Dillingham followed with one of her career-high seven assists to Chapel for a jump shot that gave MSU a 45-41 lead after three quarters.
Even though she didn’t score three-straight baskets, Chapel said she felt she picked up what Richardson started in the first half.
“I feel like in the first quarter you could feel like Bre was on fire,” Chapel said. “Coming in in the second half, trying to follow up what Bre had done … I felt like our momentum started coming. Our press picked up a lot.”
Low numbers
With Victoria Vivians, MSU’s leading scorer at 17.2 points per game, scoring only five points (her second-lowest total of the season), MSU had to get production from other sources. William answered the call with 11 points in the final 10 minutes, while McCowan had 10 in a 30-point fourth quarter that helped MSU pull away.
But none of that would have happened if Chapel didn’t provide the spark off the bench.
“I felt like she just kept it going,” Richardson said. “Coach always says if it is not broken, keep it going. She came in and basically just continued what I was doing, knocking down shots in the short corner and finishing layups, just basically taking whatever they were giving us. That is all you can ask for.”
Richardson said she and Chapel went straight up for a loose ball in practice only to have Chapel come down and twist her back. She said she didn’t come down on Chapel or do anything to her roommate in what she called a “freak accident.” Even if Schaefer wasn’t sure if Chapel was going to be able to play, Richardson was confident.
“I knew she probably would tough it out and say she was going to play, even if she probably shouldn’t have,” Richardson said. “I asked her before the game and during the game if she was OK.”
Ready to step up
Dillingham, who is the heart and soul of the Bulldogs for her willingness to take charges, also had confidence in Chapel.
“She was definitely a spark plug for us. She was offense that we needed,” Dillingham said. “She was just getting to the open sports and she wasn’t settling. She was getting into the paint and scoring. She was just great. Both of the four players attacked all night. Bre got it started early and Ketara finished, so you have two four players who are monsters.”
William’s three-point play on an off-balance, fall-away drive kicked MSU’s lead to 54-47 at the 7:08 mark. Later in the quarter, she fed McCowan on a lob pass over the press for another three-point play that extended the advantage to 61-53. MSU pulled way from there and didn’t even need Vivians’ only field goal of the night on a drive she converted into a three-point play with 1:47 to go.
After the game, Schaefer tipped his cap to Chapel for answering the call like a senior.
He said Chapel was comfortable in a big moment just like she has been in her career, which is no surprise considering she is part of a senior class with Richardson, Chinwe Okorie, and Dillingham that has won a program-best 105 games in their time in Starkville.
“She made four big shots,” Schaefer said. “We had to score against that zone, and we weren’t having a whole lot of success. In the second quarter, we set the game back 20 years offensively.
Ketara had three defensive rebounds and 10 points and two assists. That is the other piece she gives you. I am proud of the kid, but it doesn’t surprise me. I know what that kid is capable of, and right now she is doing a great job for us.”
Good nights
Raigyne Moncrief scored a game-high 25 points for LSU, while Chloe Jackson added 12.
“We played 33-34 minutes,” Moncrief said. “We need to play 40. The last six minutes the momentum started going their way. They started to score.
LSU shot 59.1 percent (13-for-22) in the first half and 51.9 percent (28-for-54) for the game to become only the second opponent to shoot better than 50 percent from the field against MSU this season. Tennessee shot 54.7 percent from the field in an 82-64 victory against MSU on Sunday in Starkville.
“We’re one of the smaller teams, but I think we play with a huge heart,” LSU coach Nikki Fargas said. “You get ready for NCAA tournament play, which I think our team has done enough in the sense of our non-conference schedule, what we’ve done in the SEC, to get our name called. We’re going to go back, we’re going to practice like we’re an NCAA team.”
Meanwhile, MSU will prepare to play Texas A&M for a third time. The Bulldogs beat the Aggies 71-61 on Jan. 29 in Starkville and 72-67 on Feb. 19 in College Station, Texas.
Don’t worry about Chapel. She will be ready to do her thing again, whether that means scoring, handing out assists, or setting screens to help the Bulldogs get to the SEC title game.
Richardson
“That’s with all of us,” Richardson said. “Nobody is going to sit out for no reason. If it is something we can play through, we’re going to play through it. That has always been her, and that is us as a 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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