STARKVILLE — The chances were there Sunday.
Four years ago, it would have been difficult to imagine the Mississippi State women’s basketball team could compete with the No. 2 team in the nation. A 51-point loss to Vanderbilt, a 53-point loss to Kentucky, and a 48-point loss to Texas A&M were some of the potholes Vic Schaefer and his coaching staff had to navigate en route to a 13-win season in their first year in Starkville.
But MSU has left those disappointments in the rear-view mirror and slowly climbed back into relevance in the Southeastern Conference and in the national rankings. The latest step came with another record and pushed No. 10 MSU tantalizingly close to a victory against its highest-ranked opponent since 2000.
In the end, Schaefer was left to survey the remnants of a 57-51 loss to No. 2 South Carolina before a program-record crowd of 10,626 at Humphrey Coliseum. With the echoes of the fourth-largest crowd in the history of the Hump — men or women — and the largest to watch a women’s college basketball game in the state of Mississippi still ringing in his ears, Schaefer talked with pride about a team that overcame a season-low 27.1-percent shooting effort (16 of 59) from the field to nearly pull the upset.
“That was a heck of a basketball game,” Schaefer said. “We just ran out of time. To go toe to toe with a team of that caliber is impressive. We are not here for moral victories, but I am awfully proud of how hard our kids played and competed. I thought we executed extremely well, especially defensively.”
Victoria Vivians led MSU (17-4, 4-3 SEC) led MSU with 19 points, but the SEC’s leading scorer was 7 of 25 from the field, including 2 of 9 from 3-point range. Morgan William added 10 points and three assists, but she was 3 of 13 from the field on a day in which the Bulldogs made a season-low 16 field goals. They made up for it by going 16 of 17 from the free-throw line. Ketara Chapel (10 points) led the charge there, going 6 of 6.
“Whoever guarded me today did a pretty good job,” Vivians said. “I was rushing shots and took a couple of bad shots. I knew they were there and I was trying to get my shot off quicker. That is what made me go 7-for-25.”
But a defensive effort that held South Carolina (19-0, 7-0) to a season-low scoring output and a season-high matching 21 turnovers couldn’t overcome a 28-10 disadvantage in points in the paint or a 1-of-7 effort (two points) from post players Chinwe Okorie and Teaira McCowan. Okorie had eight rebounds, while McCowan had seven as South Carolina held a 40-31 rebounding edge.
Those discrepancies prevented MSU from earning its first win against a No. 2 team since a 62-61 victory against Georgia on March 4, 2000.
William said the Bulldogs used good pressure on the ball and help-side defense to prevent the Gamecocks from exploiting their inside game. She looked to Schaefer, who was sitting to her right, when she started to answer how the Gamecocks’ defense affected the Bulldogs. Schaefer looked at the stat sheet and said South Carolina affected his team “quite a bit.”
“They chased Victoria awfully hard,” Schaefer said. “Victoria made some tough shots and got some clean looks. Sometimes you don’t know if you’re going to get them if you have been chased so hard. You turn around and you go, ‘Where is the defense?’ I think they probably would say the same thing about our defense. We were pretty good today. In this league, when you’re open, this is open — (holding his forefinger a couple of inches from his thumb) — (and you have to hit them).”
Still, MSU had its chances. Trailing 42-41, MSU committed a turnover in a half-court set and missed a mid-range jump shot. But William took a charge against Tina Roy and Dominique Dillingham took a charge on Tiffany Mitchell to prevent the Gamecocks from building their lead.
The frustrated expression on Roy’s face following the official’s call epitomized the Bulldogs’ tenacity and how each team made the other work for everything it earned.
“That is what they are all about,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “They are a stingy, defensive team. I felt coming into the game we would perform a little bit better, but it just goes to show you can’t simulate atmosphere, the energy that was in this building no matter what you do. But you can, however, try to get your team to stay in character for as long as possible. We didn’t do that tonight, but we made enough plays at the end to win.”
Mitchell (game-high 21 points) scored seven-straight points later in the fourth quarter to push South Carolina’s lead to 49-43. MSU countered with two free throws by Chapel, a jump shot by Dillingham, and two more free throws by William to trim the margin to 51-49 with 51.8 seconds to play. Khadijah Sessions answered with a pull-up jump shot in the lane and Asia Dozier added two crucial free throws with 22.9 seconds left. Mitchell’s two free throws with 9.4 seconds to go sealed the deal.
MSU couldn’t capitalize on the turnovers, scoring only six fast-break points and four second-chance points. Schaefer said games against the nation’s top teams come down to possessions and making the little plays for 40 minutes. While he said the Bulldogs made them for 39 minutes, he said the Gamecocks made the Bulldogs pay when they weren’t able to execute.
“I have beaten No. 2 in the country, so I know how far we have to go, and we have a ways to go,” Schaefer said. “But I look around that locker room and who I have on my team and I sure like it and I ain’t trading them for anybody. As young as we are and as talented as we are, we got a great chance — great chance — to continue what we’re doing and to get better.”
One of the biggest plays came at the end of the first half when MSU wasn’t able to secure a defensive rebound. South Carolina capitalized as Roy (11 points) drained a 3-pointer to give South Carolina a 22-20 lead. A run-out by Mitchell (game-high 21 points) with 3 minutes, 2 seconds left in the game was another example Schaefer pointed to after the game that proved costly.
Still, after a year of playing in front of crowds that barely reached 1,000, it was invigorating to hear the Hump rocking. In fact, the total attendance Sunday was just shy of the all-time Humphrey Coliseum record of 10,788 for the MSU men’s basketball team’s game against Kentucky on Feb. 16, 2010.
Schaefer said all of the plays still were fresh in his mind nearly an hour after the game. But with a team that has only one senior, Schaefer was proud of the effort against a team that advanced to the Final Four last season and has five seniors. He was extremely pleased a record crowd had a chance to see it.
“Talk about competing your tails off and competitive and fire and what a crowd,” Schaefer said. “How special was that today? … I didn’t hear it, but they said it was like church in that they were asking people to move to the middle. That is what they do in mine if you’re sitting on the aisle and nobody wants to crawl over you, they ask you to move to the middle. It is so special, and it is right here in Starkville, Mississippi, at Mississippi State. I think it is here to stay.”
MSU will play host to No. 18 Tennessee at 8 p.m. Thursday (SEC Network).
Schaefer hopes the fans will come back because the Bulldogs will need another lift if they hope to earn the program’s first victory against the Lady Volunteers. After going toe to toe with the No. 2 team, Schaefer stressed again there was no time for “moral victories.” He said he enjoys the challenge of rising expectations, and knows his team’s effort against one of the nation’s elite raises the bar for the Bulldogs moving forward.
“When I got here, there weren’t too many expectations,” Schaefer said. “You keep giving people a little taste and it is like dressing, they want more. That is where we are. That is fine. I want it that way. We had 10,000 in here tonight and they walked out of here thinking, ‘That team played great, and we’re proud of them.’ The next time we get 10,000, if I get beat again I want them walking out of here madder than heck.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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