STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State women’s basketball team will be in the “survive-and-advance” part of the schedule when it returns to the court.
No. 16 MSU will be the third seed Friday night when it plays Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, or Georgia in the Southeastern Conference tournament at Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
MSU nailed down the coveted double bye in the tournament by defeating Alabama 61-52 on Sunday on Senior Day at Humphrey Coliseum. With the postseason hard hats ready, the Bulldogs will look for more wins like the one they had Sunday.
“This is pretty much what Alabama does,” MSU junior Dominique Dillingham said. “They make it hard on you. They make it hard on you all day long.”
MSU finished the regular season 24-6 and 11-5 in league play. The 11 league wins match last season’s school record. To have any hopes of playing host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament, a win Sunday was
required.
The victory — MSU’s third in a row — looked just like the last two. In road wins at Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, MSU had one stretch to get separation. While the opponent hung around and climbed back within five points (at Ole Miss) and three points (at Vanderbilt), MSU delivered a back-breaking shot or a back-breaking defensive play.
On Sunday, Dillingham did the back-breaking. Considered the team’s best defensive player, Dillingham had a game-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field.
With her team leading by seven and the clock inside four minutes, Dillingham delivered a dagger — a baseline jumper as the shot clock expired. With a six-point lead on the next possession, Dillingham drove past her defender for a soft 10-foot jump shot.
Normalcy then returned when Dillingham tied up Alabama on the ensuing possession.
“We don’t win this game without her,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “People don’t understand Dominique can shoot the basketball. She showed that today. When you come to the gym every day and work on your shot, you are going to eventually be rewarded.”
Schaefer said playing Alabama is always a challenge, and he encouraged his team to take the “survive-and-advance motto” early.
“We didn’t play our best,” Schaefer said. “Alabama does this to you. They have the identity of their head coach. At this point, you are not going to re-define your team. You simply have to find a way to win a game. From here on, it is about finding a way to win a game.”
When asked if she thought her team had reached its potential, Dillingham said the only way to find out was to continue to work hard and to continue to practice like the next day could be your last.
“It’s the last month of the season,” Dillingham said. “All we can do is now work harder than we have all season.”
Behind some brilliant defensive work, MSU built an early 17-6 lead. Coming in off an upset victory against Tennessee that snapped a 42-game losing streak in the series, Alabama scored the next 12 points.
MSU led 28-25 at halftime and then used an 8-0 run midway through the third quarter to gain separation.
“The confidence level on this team is really high,” said MSU sophomore Victoria Vivians, who scored nine points to become the 22nd player in school history to reach 1,000 points. “I think we have proven we aren’t going to back down from anybody. You just have to be really good right now because everybody else is going to be.”
Vivians joked she was happy the SEC tournament was away from home because her best performances have come on the road. Schaefer said he is fine with Vivians’ mind-set as long as she is flirting with double-doubles (she also had nine rebounds) on a consistent basis.
MSU will look to make a statement in Florida. The school has never won the SEC tournament. By drawing a double bye and by playing in the final game Friday, the 14-team field will be trimmed to five before MSU’s starting lineup is announced.
Each of the four teams with double byes will try to bolster their resumes in hopes of playing host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament.
“The Lord has blessed Mississippi State with tough, competitive kids and a fine basketball team,” Schaefer said. “We lost four quality seniors from a year ago. To see the youth on this team step up and win 24 games in incredible. The youth stepped up today when it needed it the most.”
Sherise Williams is the lone senior on the MSU roster. She and her teammates were emotional during a pregame ceremony. The emotion in the building carried over to the fast start.
“We need to keep starting fast,” Dillingham said, “Now it’s win or go home.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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