DURHAM, N.C. — Eight.
It didn’t matter Friday that Sherise Williams had played only eight minutes and had received a “did not play — coaches decision” next to her name in the Mississippi State women’s basketball team’s past 12 games.
With centers Martha Alwal and Chinwe Okorie saddled with two fouls eight minutes into MSU’s game against Tulane in the first round of the NCAA tournament, MSU coach Vic Schaefer turned to Williams. The 6-foot-1 junior forward responded, scoring five points, grabbing one rebound, and blocking one shot in the final 12 minutes, 1 second of the first half to help MSU build a 27-22 halftime lead.
Williams didn’t play in the second half as MSU ultimately pulled away for a 57-47 victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium on the campus of Duke University, but she proved she was ready after a slow start.
“He just said, ‘Go in and do your job. You’re in their to fix a problem or you’re there to sustain what is going on. Just go in and do what you can. Don’t do extra. Just be solid,’ ” Williams said.
Williams entered the tournament averaging 3.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in 8.3 minutes in 23 games. She hadn’t played double-digit minutes since a 71-69 double-overtime loss to LSU on Jan. 15, when Schaefer opted not to play Alwal. Since that game, the three minutes Williams played against Vanderbilt on Jan. 29 was her longest outing.
Still, Williams knew she had to be prepared after Alwal picked up two fouls Schafer called “ticky tacks” and Okorie also was whistled for two.
“I just had to go in and do what I was capable of, nothing extra, nothing more, nothing less,” said Williams, who like all of her teammates was playing in her first NCAA tournament game. “I just had to go in and play my game and listen to my coaches and my teammates.”
It didn’t take long for Williams to have to put her words to the test. After Okorie exited, Williams was inserted for a free throw by Tulane’s Chinwe Duru. Even though she was on the low block, Williams couldn’t secure the rebound, which gave the ball back to the Green Wave. Kendra Grant picked up her second foul on Tulane’s offensive set coming out of the media timeout. Courtnie Latham hit 1 of 2 free throws at the 11:43 mark to cut MSU’s lead to 10-8.
Grant was one of three Bulldogs with two fouls in the first half. Tulane capitalized on 11 MSU fouls to go 6 of 9 from the free-throw line in the first half.
“I think I did good,” Williams said. “I missed a box out as soon as I got in and I got down on myself. Coach chewed me out, and I picked it up from there.
“I just tried to be mentally tough and not let it get to me. As a post player, you have to box out. I just got lost. I wasn’t paying attention.”
Williams scored on a putback of a miss by Victoria Vivians. She also converted a low-post set when she received the basketball on the left block and turned quickly and banked in a short jump shot. She said the game plan was for post players to make decisive moves once they received the ball because the Bulldogs (27-6) felt the Green Wave would double-team post players.
“I thought Sherise was outstanding,” Schaefer said. “That is a kid who hasn’t played a lot now. She comes in and just gets us through a real tough time. I am really proud of Sherise in what she did while Chinwe and Martha had to sit.”
Vivians struggles
MSU overcame a 2-for-14 shooting performance by Vivians, its leading scorer, to survive and advance.
Vivians, a 6-1 forward, entered the game averaging a team-high 15.1 points per game. She was coming off a team-best 19-point effort in a 76-67 loss to Kentucky in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament on March 5 in North Little Rock, Arkansas. In that game, a piece of the nail on Vivians’ right thumb broke, which forced her to leave the game. Vivians’ play had helped MSU build a 15-point lead in the second half, but she missed her last six shots after she had her thumb bandaged. After that game, she said she was thinking more about her thumb than her shooting.
Against Tulane (22-11), Vivians also had to worry about a lot of defensive attention. Tulane coach Lisa Stockton said Thursday the Green Wave were going to try not to give Vivians open looks at the basket. For the most part, the Green Wave did their job.
“We knew that she was their shooter,” Tulane senior point guard Jamie Kaplan said. “The scout was to make sure you get a hand up wherever she was because she will shoot it from anywhere. I thought we did a great job on her. I thought we made her looks very difficult. She didn’t get a lot of great looks.
Schaefer also thought Vivians settled for too many jump shots. She was 2 of 12 in the first half, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range. Eight of those attempts came from the perimeter.
Vivians played only six minutes in the second half and finished with seven points (2 of 14 from the field) and four rebounds in 22 minutes.
“I thought Victoria was a little apprehensive, wasn’t attacking like I like her to,” Schaefer said. “She struggled a little bit defensively. … I still believe that kid in this environment is going to flourish and doesn’t get tight. But the truth of the matter is she might, she might just be a little nervous. Martha was nervous today. I have a bunch like that. I don’t have a kid on my team that has been in the NCAA tournament. That was a concern. I think tonight we probably showed a little bit of that, but I think we settled in.”
MSU’s defense affects Tulane
Playing in the American Athletic Conference, Tulane has two dates every year against perennial national title contender Connecticut. This season, the Huskies held the Green Wave to their lowest point total of the season in an 87-39 loss on Feb. 14 in Storrs, Connecticut.
But South Florida, an opponent MSU knows very well, held Tulane to its fewest number of field goals in a game this season in a 53-40 victory on Jan. 4 in New Orleans. The Green Wave went 16 of 65 (24.6 percent) from the field.
The field goal percentage remained the Green Wave’s lowest of the season, but MSU held Tulane to 13 of 47 from the field (27.7 percent) for its second sub-30-percent shooting effort of the campaign.
“I felt like defensively we did some really good things,” Tulane coach Lisa Stockton said. “Even in the first half, we had a lot of turnovers and we were down five (at halftime). Defensively, we stopped Mississippi State from doing a lot of good things. We just couldn’t score. I think Mississippi State’s defense was tremendous. It just made us take a lot of bad shots and it kind of put us in a hole.”
MSU also forced 20 turnovers and had eight steals. The Green Wave had only 10 points in the paint. They were 16 of 25 from the free-throw line.
Senior guard Jamie Kaplan, who had a team-high 17 points in MSU’s win against Tulane last season in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, credited the Bulldogs.
“They’re just very physical. They’re very aggressive, which is all the credit to them,” said Kaplan, who had nine points, five assists, and four steals. “They play extremely hard for 40 minutes and they get in the passing lanes. They really don’t make anything easy for you. You really have to work every possession. A lot of credit to them. They have shown all year they can play defense, and it definitely showed tonight.”
Freshman Kolby Morgan paced Tulane with 17 points. Tiffany Dale had a team-high nine rebounds.
MSU lost to USF 60-58 in the quarterfinals of the WNIT on a last-second 3-pointer by Courtney Williams.
Birthday girl
Friday looked like it was going to be a great day for Alwal.
The 6-4 senior celebrated her 22nd birthday in style in the first 3:08 against Tulane by scoring on a layup on a one-on-one move on the block and in the lane on a scoop shot.
Those points were the only ones Alwal scored in a 22-minute effort riddled with foul trouble.
Alwal picked up her first foul at the 13:14 mark when she bumped into a Tulane player near midcourt running the floor. Alwal held her arms up as if to show the officials she didn’t intend to do anything wrong, while Schaefer cocked his head to the side, looked to the official who made the call and smiled, as if to say, ‘Why are you calling that a foul?”
Despite playing only six minutes in the first half, Alwal stayed involved and finished with five rebounds and six blocked shots.
“It is really special,” Alwal said. “Getting to the NCAA tournament is huge. We have been working at it since coach Schaefer first got here, so just getting a win today is awesome, and being in the round of 32 is amazing. I am really happy.”
The six blocks helped Alwal pass former LSU standout Sylvia Fowles (321 blocks) on the SEC’s career blocked shots list with 324. Fowles was fifth on the all-time list.
Alwal led the SEC with 2.3 blocks per game this season.
Noteworthy
The crowd of 2,712 for the session that included the game between No. 13 seed Albany and No. 4 seed Duke was the lowest MSU has played in front of since Jan. 26, when it played for a crowd of 1,787 in a 59-48 win at Auburn. Duke was awarded the No. 4 seed and a chance to play host to the first and second rounds of the tournament on Monday. No. 5 MSU finished fifth in the SEC in attendance with an average of 3,755 in 18 dates. It averaged 4,896 for eight SEC dates. Duke averaged 4,851 for 16 home dates.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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