STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State women’s basketball team showed Friday it is ready to face the “monster” that is the Southeastern Conference.
Buoyed by key contributions from its healthy seniors and a balanced scoring effort, No. 17 MSU showed the tenacity and the toughness it will take to survive the SEC marathon with a 64-56 victory against No. 19 Georgia before a season-high crowd of 4,114 at Humphrey Coliseum.
There wasn’t a lot of flash in this one, which should be typical of many SEC games this season. Both teams relied on tough defense and hard work to win offensive rebounds and 50-50 balls in an attempt to gain an advantage. In the end, MSU lost the rebounding edge (43-37, including 20 offensive rebounds by Georgia), but it made enough hustle plays and had enough options on offense to win its SEC opener at home for the first time since the 1998-99 season (71-66 vs. Vanderbilt).
“I don’t think I have been playing that many minutes prior to this game, so I was pretty out of it in the first half. I kept asking for a sub,” said MSU senior center Martha Alwal, who had 10 points and seven rebounds in 31 minutes, which was one shy of the most she has played in 11 games this season. “In the second half, I was feeling the flow of the game a little more and I felt a lot more comfortable, so I went for a lot longer.”
Senior Kendra Grant shared team-high scoring honors with 11 points. She added seven rebounds in a season-high 21 minutes. Both players missed time earlier this season with injuries, but they joined classmate Jerica James (five points, four assists, two steals in 18 minutes) to have one of their best combined efforts of the season.
Sophomore Breanna Richardson (11 points, six rebounds), freshman Morgan William (11 points), and sophomore Dominique Dillingham (nine points, five rebounds, two steals in a team-high 39 minutes) also delivered solid outings to help MSU continue its program-best start to the season.
“Give the credit to the Good Lord for blessing me with a tremendous group of young ladies playing their hearts out,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “I feel real blessed. The kids competed today. Our kids played their hearts out. We didn’t have one player who went and got it done. We had four or five who played well and carried us.”
Schaefer has referred to the SEC as a “monster.” It remains to be seen if the final 15 regular-season league games will play out like the first one. If they do, MSU will be advised to bring a lunch pail and a hard hat because it opened conference play with a physical matchup. Even though there were only 40 fouls called (22 against Georgia), MSU showed signs it is embracing Schaefer’s defensive mind-set with a gritty effort. It helped on defense, it chased down loose rebounds, it sprinted out to guard shooters, it challenged ballhandlers out on the wing and at the top of the key, and made life tough for Georgia, which shot 33.8 percent (22 of 65) from the field.
Georgia coach Andy Landers said MSU had an advantage in the physical nature of the ballgame. He said MSU made several good plays in the second half and then capitalized on a game that became “a bit more aggressive, a bit more physical.”
MSU used a 15-2 run to erase a one-point deficit and build its biggest lead, 46-34, with 14 minutes, 46 seconds left. James (off a turnover) and Grant hit 3-pointers in the run to ignite the crowd.
“Those shots were big for the momentum in the game,” Grant said. “We really needed to get some separation and we were able to do it there by putting some shots together.
“The last couple of games I have been playing a lot more minutes. I think that has to do with me getting my knee right. I finally feel pretty much like I was before. If coach feels good about me playing good, he will play me more.”
Tiaria Griffin paced Georgia with 13 points. She had three of the team’s five 3-pointers. All of them came in the first half. Georgia was 0 of 10 from 3-point range in the second half.
“I saw the game get real tough,” Landers said when asked what he saw happen in MSU’s 15-2 run that turned the game. “Don’t misunderstand me, please. In that period, Mississippi State executed and ran some nice plays and scored the ball — boom, boom. There were others that I thought were just rough.”
Still, MSU couldn’t put the game away. Mackenzie Engram (11 points, nine rebounds, four blocked shots) scored inside to cut the deficit to 56-51 with 3:24 to go. Georgia had an opportunity to cut into the lead again, but Erika Ford missed a drive. MSU countered with two offensive rebounds by Richardson that kept possessions alive. The second led to a free throw. William hit 6 of 6 free throws and Dillingham added another in the final 1:06 to seal the deal.
“Coach kept telling us they’re going to come rebound hard, and he was telling us to go rebound just as hard,” said Dillingham, who had an offensive rebound and putback for a basket earlier in the half when MSU was nursing a seven-point lead. “Offensive rebounds are kind of demoralizing. You get an offensive rebound and a putback, it makes them feel like they did everything wrong.”
After the game, Alwal hinted that she realized what was in store for the Bulldogs when she said it was time for her and the older players on the team to “step up.” She acknowledged MSU has built its record on victories against teams it should have beaten, but she said those wins have given the team confidence. Now that she and Grant are feeling better, she believes they are primed to play even bigger roles than they had Friday afternoon.
MSU played without senior guard Savannah Carter, who is still experiencing discomfort in her legs due to shin splints. Carter was the only senior who didn’t get a chance to contribute on a day in which the older players took a step forward on a day when freshman Victoria Vivians, the team’s leading scorer (16.3 points per game) entering the game, had a season-low five points.
Grant said the newcomers earned their first taste of SEC play on a day in which the game lived up to another word — “blood bath” — Schaefer uses to describe the nature of play in the league. She feels they can learn even more after they look at the film and pick up things that they have to do to have more success.
Alwal agreed and credited the crowd for giving the team a bump it needed to open league play in style.
“We know what it takes to win in this league,” Alwal said. “I just think that we have to continue to lead. We did a good job today, the returners did.”
Schaefer hopes that toughness and attention to detail continues to come through on the next step at 2 p.m. today in Columbia, Missouri. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network +. It will be a different kind of test against an opponent that loves to shoot the 3-pointer, but it will be a “monster” test on the road.
“I am proud of us,” Schaefer said. “I thought we fought and showed toughness. … We are still very young, but what I like now is our seniors, three of the four that are back in, are giving me the stability that we need.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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