STARKVILLE — Total control.
That’s the feeling Missaissippi State women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer has when Morgan William is on the court leading his team.
Now that William is back to 100 percent after offseason surgery to repair a fracture in her right leg, you can rest assured Schaefer feels even more comfortable with her steady hands running the show.
William showed how well she can control a game Sunday, scoring 10 of her game-high 23 points in the final 4 minutes, 29 seconds to lead No. 10 MSU to a 79-68 victory against No. 8 Texas before a crowd of 7,764 at Humphrey Coliseum.
“As point guard, I have to finish out the game anyway,” William said, “so I need to have the ball in my hands, and when they foul I need to make my free throws and I need to run the offense. We need to get quality shots because as coach says every possession counts.”
Victoria Vivians added 19 points, Dominique Dillingham had 10, and Chinwe Okorie had nine points and seven rebounds and Roshunda Johnson had nine points to help MSU (4-0) win its home opener. The victory avenged a 53-47 loss to Texas last season in Austin, Texas.
William had a hand in nearly all of the big plays in the final 10 minutes. She had one of her three steals when she helped on defense and dropped to the block to snare a pass into the post. She cashed that turnover in with a nifty stutter-step drive to the right side that helped MSU match its biggest lead, 64-47, with 7:50 remaining.
William did the rest of her damage from the free-throw line, going 10-for-10 down the stretch. Eight of the points came after Vivians picked up her fourth and fifth fouls in a 21-second span and was disqualified with 3:39 to play. Vivians and Schaefer weren’t worried, though, because they knew the game was in good hands with William in charge.
“Once you get in the bonus, you want the ball in her hands,” Schaefer said. “We talked in practice this week that they were going to go under the ball screen and you’re a great free-throw shooter, so make a free-throw jumper. She made some big shots at the free-throw line. She is so good at the line that you want the ball in her hands.”
Last season, William claimed MSU’s single-season free-throw percentage record (84.4 percent) for the second-straight season. Her percentage ranked second in the Southeastern Conference. Against Texas, she was 13 of 14 from the free-throw line, which matched her career-best for free throws in a game and was two shy from matching her most free throws attempts in a game.
“She definitely controlled the game. No question about it,” Texas coach Karen Aston said. “We tried to make some adjustments, but every adjustment we made wasn’t good enough. Some of the points were fouling late in the game trying to get into the press, and she did a great job of handling that and keeping the ball in her hands, which a good point guard will do.”
Aston said the Longhorns made some defensive mistakes on plays William made. She said the Longhorns need to do a better job with their help-side defense to deny players like William open lanes to the basket. Three of William’s five field goals came on jump shots, while the other two came on drives.
Mike Thibault, the coach of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and father of MSU assistant coach Carly Thibault, also was impressed with William’s play at point guard. Mike Thibault watched William run the show with his son, Eric, who is an assistant coach with the Mystics.
“She just has a calmness about her that is hard to teach. You either have it or you don’t,” Mike Thibault said. “She sees full-court pressure the whole game and she is playing against a quick guard (Brooke McCarty) the whole game and yet she got them in a good play almost every time they needed a good play. Her shooting keeps getting better, and she doesn’t miss free throws, which is a huge thing, especially when you get to conference play when everybody scouts you and they know every move. If you can make free throws down the end of the game, it takes a lot of pressure off your team.”
William’s success helped her eclipse the 20-point mark for the fourth time in her career. Oddly, though, she played 32 minutes and didn’t have an assist in a game for only the second time in her career. The other was a loss to Connecticut last season in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.
William made up for the zero in that category in the media room following the game. After beating Schaefer and Vivians to the podium, William stepped down to lend a hand to Schaefer, who limped into the room. She walked her coach over to the table and then she and Vivians helped him step up to the podium.
Schaefer, who was seen favoring his right ankle during the game, said he is bothered by gout. When the question-and-answer session ended, William capped her evening with her second assist, when she allowed Schaefer to wrap his right arm around her shoulders and Vivians ducked under his left arm and they escorted him out.
Minutes earlier, William played a similar, steady role to help the Bulldogs earn a signature win.
“I expect all of the free throws (William shoots) to go in,” Vivians said. “That is her specialty. Last year, she led the team in free-throw percentage, so I don’t worry about it. I knew Morgan would take it to the basket and that we had won the game because they were going to keep fouling her and she was going to keep making free throws.”
McCarty paced Texas (1-2) with 19 points, while Ariel Atkins added 18. Brianna Taylor had 12 points, eight rebounds, and three steals for the Longhorns, who outshot the Bulldogs (48.2 percent to 47.4) from the field but committed 24 turnovers.
MSU will play Oregon at 7 p.m. Friday in its first game at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii. MSU will play San Jose State on Saturday and Hawaii on Sunday.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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