JACKSON — Victoria Vivians — only a freshman — smiled broadly as she held the Gillom Trophy on Monday afternoon.
These were the kinds of moments she envisioned when she opted to stay close to home and join Mississippi State’s basketball program.
“I stayed in the state to do all this, to make my mark on my state,” Vivians said. “But without my teammates or coaches, I wouldn’t be here.”
The 6-foot-1 Vivians — who led the Southeastern Conference in scoring this season — won the Gillom Trophy during a presentation at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. Ole Miss guard Stefan Moody won the Howell Trophy.
The Gillom is given to the state’s top women’s player, while the Howell is given to the top men’s player.
Vivians, who claimed 78 percent of the fan vote, came to MSU from nearby Scott Central High School in Forest, where she scored 5,745 points during her prep career. This season, she led the Bulldogs in scoring (15.1 points per game) and played an integral role in leading the team to a program-best 26 victories, including a program-high 11 in the SEC.
Vivians is the first freshman to win the award. She is the third MSU player to claim the honor, joining 2013 winner Martha Alwal and two-time recipient Alexis Rack (2009, 2010). MSU is the only program to win the award four times.
Vivians is the second freshman to win one of the state’s top player awards. Delta State’s Tregnel Thomas won the Conerly Trophy in 1996. That award is given annually to the best college football player in the state of Mississippi by the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame
Now the Bulldogs — who are ranked No. 12 in the country — are waiting to find out when and where they will play in the NCAA tournament.
Vivians said MSU coach Vic Schaefer is a big reason she was able to have success so quickly.
“He knows what I’m capable of doing and he pushes me every day,” Vivians said. “Nothing’s easy. I just come in and work hard and listen to him. I’ve made it pretty far listening to him so I’m going to keep doing it.”
The other Gillom finalists were Ole Miss’ Tia Faleru and Southern Mississippi’s Tamara Jones.
“It’s a very deserving honor for Victoria, and we are so proud of her. She might be the leading scorer in the SEC, but she is such a great teammate. She makes everyone around her better,” Schaefer said. “Victoria is very unselfish, almost to a fault. She’s learning as a freshman to be that complete basketball player, but for us she has meant a lot to our program from a competitive standpoint as well as being a winner. It’s hard to find those competitive kids, especially at a young age, but she has it. She has that ‘It’ factor.”
Moody, a 5-10 junior, led the Rebels in scoring (16.6 ppg.). He’s the third straight Ole Miss guard to win the award, joining Marshall Henderson (2013) and Jarvis Summers (2014).
Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said Moody — who is in his first season with the program after transferring from a junior college — did a good job of fitting into the Rebels’ system.
Moody said Kennedy’s offense is very shooter-friendly.
“It’s just trusting in the coach and believing his plan,” Moody said. “It’s doing my job and you can’t go wrong if you work as hard as you can. (Kennedy) gives a lot of freedom. He’s not real strict on the shots you take as long as it’s your shot and you knock it down.”
The other finalists for the Howell were Delta State’s Devin Schmidt and Southern Miss’ Chip Armelin.
The awards are sponsored by C Spire Wireless. Ninety percent of the final vote was decided by a panel of the state’s media while the other 10 percent was determined by fan voting.
Special reports were included in this story.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.