STARKVILLE — Next player up.
Sherise Williams has accepted her role on the Mississippi State women’s basketball team. As the team’s only senior, Williams has continued to work hard in practice and has provided a quicker, athletic foil to the Bulldogs’ statuesque post tandem of Chinwe Okorie and Teaira McCowan.
As Okorie and McCowan have matured on the court, Williams has bided her time and hoped for an opportunity to contribute in her final season in Starkville.
When the chance came Friday to make an impact, Williams didn’t disappoint. The same could be said for all six of MSU’s reserves who saw action in a 60-50 victory against Chattanooga in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Humphrey Coliseum.
Faced with the challenge of playing on its home court for the first time in the NCAA tournament, MSU delivered an effort that showcased its depth on a day when it needed contributions from all 11 players who took the floor.
“It was a total team effort,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said. “We played a number of kids today, and I think everybody that came into the game impacted the game in a positive way and helped us win the ballgame.”
Schaefer opened the season talking about the challenges the Bulldogs faced with 14 players. Schaefer liked the fact that the Bulldogs had competition at every position and versatility so he could mix and match lineups. He took advantage of that flexibility in the non-conference slate and gave his bench players an average of 84.07 minutes in 14 games. The Bulldogs used at least 11 players in all of the games.
The bench shortened when MSU moved into the Southeastern Conference portion of the schedule. In the 16 games prior to the game against Chattanooga, MSU used 10 or fewer players nine times, including five games when only nine saw action. As a result, the average number of minutes for the bench players shrunk to 53.05.
A decrease like that would lead you to believe the bench players might not be ready, especially for the bright lights and anxiety associated with the win-or-go-home pressure of the NCAA tournament.
Williams, LaKaris Salter, McCowan, Jazzmun Holmes, Blair Schaefer, and Breanna Richardson weren’t having any of that nonsense.
“I think we all had a job to do for us to prevail,” Williams said.
The 6-foot-1 Williams and the 6-1 Salter arguably had the biggest roles off the bench. Playing behind forwards and centers most of the season, both players came in and provided valuable minutes on both ends of the floor to help the Bulldogs (27-7) equal the program record for wins in a season set in 2014-15 and advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second-consecutive season.
Williams’ job was simple: Stop Jasmine Joyner. With MSU leading 37-27, the 6-1 Joyner, who is from Southaven, took the game over by hitting four jump shots. Joyner’s shooting display helped Chattanooga (24-8) cut the deficit to 37-35 in the final four minutes of the third quarter.
That’s when Williams received the call. With the 6-5 Okorie or 6-7 McCowan unable to slow Joyner, Schaefer inserted Williams into the game and hoped she could do something.
“My job was to defend (No.) 3 (Joyner),” Williams said. “Coach knew this was going to be a struggle for our post players because she could face up and she is a more of finesse player instead of the stronger post players that we’re used to playing. She is a very good player. We just needed different bodies to guard her.”
Earlier in the week, Schaefer told his players the Bulldogs’ posts were going to have a tough time handling Joyner’s quickness, which is why he stressed the importance of help defense to shut off driving lanes.
“We were a little slow recovering off the hedge (on screens),” Schaefer said. “Chine is a little bit slower in getting that high hand, whereas Sherise is pretty quick getting there. I am really pleased Sherise was able to get in the game and impact the game like she did. She has been here for four years and been through some difficult days and has grown with us. I am proud of her because she really did impact the game in a very positive way.”
On Friday, though, Joyner opted to spot up and shoot instead of rolling to the basket off screens. Williams saw that on the bench and was ready to make the adjustment when she took the court.
“I just defended her with pressure,” Williams said. “I tried not to let her catch the ball. She caught the ball a few times, but I just tried to stay close enough that when she did catch the ball so she couldn’t shoot or get the shot off, or play off her so she couldn’t drive.”
Williams’ defense helped limit Joyner to five points from the end of the third quarter into the fourth quarter. In those nine minutes, Joyner took only two shots. The Mocs were 4 of 10 from the field in that stretch and committed four turnovers.
“It is good that Sherise came in and really shut down (Joyner),” Schaefer said. “When Chinwe went back in, she did a good job because she was able to sit there and watch it and see how it was done.”
Williams also contributed in other ways, scoring four points and grabbing two rebounds.
“It shows that everybody is important and needs to do their jobs for us to be successful because when we have little mistakes we need other people who are going to come and pick us up at that position,” Williams said.
Williams wasn’t the only one who provided valuable minutes. Salter often has been inserted into games to provide a spark on offense. On this day, she was asked to do a little bit of everything with Chapel (seven rebounds, five assists) and Richardson in foul trouble. She responded with five points and two rebounds in eight minutes.
“Like coach always says, be ready,” Salter said. “That was my main focus in our practices this week. I rarely played offense. I was on defense a lot, so I kind of figured defense was going to be a key for this game, and it really was. With me coming off the bench, I knew my main thing was to try to defend and do a better job of defending and let the scoring come to me, which it did.”
Salter entered the game with 5:28 to go in the second quarter. She needed only 19 seconds to make an impact with an offensive rebound putback of a miss by Okorie. She then assisted on a layup by Victoria Vivians off a high screen and roll. She capped her spurt with a 3-pointer from the top of the key that gave MSU the lead for good, 24-21.
Salter has been inserted into several games this season when Richardson and Chapel have struggled to find their rhythm. In a lot of those games, Salter has tried to impact the game immediately by shooting the ball. That strategy hasn’t worked all of the time, which explains why she had only 19 points in seven SEC games.
Schaefer said he has encouraged Salter to try to be a little more “vanilla” and not attempt to make highlight-reel plays and to play more consistently. He was pleased with what he saw from his sophomore forward against Chattanooga.
Salter hopes the performance will lead to more opportunities. She plans to learn from her effort and let the offense come to her and not force things.
“It is patience,” Salter said. “If you come in and rush shots, you don’t get the results you want. With me not rushing my shot and going through the offense, it makes the offense better and smoother.”
Schaefer admitted MSU struggled with continuity and execution in its first game in 12 days. He said finding a rhythm using so many players can be a challenge, but he was excited to see so many of his reserves play well before a crowd of 5,115 in the program’s first home game in the NCAA tournament.
“It is kind of that next person up,” Schaefer said. “Ketara and Bre were struggling. Offensively, (LaKaris) always brings something. My concern with her is defense and rebounding. Offensively, she gave us five points and got a big offensive rebound and a stickback. It is very rewarding to see her come in and impact the game like she did.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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