STARKVILLE — “Somebody step up.”
Those words rang out in Humphrey Coliseum with 7 minutes, 2 seconds remaining in period one of the Mississippi State women’s basketball team’s practice Wednesday afternoon.
Coach Sharon Fanning-Otis repeated the words to emphasize their importance as Catina Bett, Jerica James, Carnecia Williams, and Darriel Gaynor substituted in to try their hand in the intrasquad scrimmage.
Not only were Fanning-Otis’ words easily applicable to those players and on that day’s practice, they also can be used to highlight the fact someone needs to help senior guards Diamber Johnson and Porsha Porter carry the scoring load for the Lady Bulldogs.
Unfortunately, when one of those players struggles, as Johnson did Sunday in a 63-62 loss at Louisiana Tech, it is even tougher for MSU (7-2) to find another scoring option who can pick up the slack.
MSU will try to find a third scorer who can deliver consistent scoring at 7 p.m. Friday when it plays host to Southern Mississippi at Humphrey Coliseum.
MSU has non-conference games remaining against Louisiana-Lafayette, Oklahoma State, and Nevada or Long Island remaining before it kicks off Southeastern Conference play at 7 p.m. Jan. 5, 2012, against LSU at home.
To put things in perspective, MSU was picked 11th in the preseason SEC coaches and media polls. If that ranking pans out and MSU has a SEC season like it did last season (4-12) en route to a 13-17 finish, a postseason berth could be in jeopardy.
That’s why it’s never too early to talk about how MSU will rectify a scoring dilemma that has Johnson (19.1 points per game) and Porter (13.7 ppg.) leading MSU in nearly every offensive category. Freshman Kendra Grant (6.2 ppg.) has shown flashes of being a perimeter shooting threat, while freshman Martha Alwal (7.0 ppg., team-high 9.4 rebounds per game) has exhibited a knack for blocking shots and rebounding. But both players also have made youthful mistakes and have at times lacked the toughness they will need to hold their own in the SEC.
Senior forward Ashley Brown (5.8 ppg., 8.3 rpg.) has displayed consistent energy, especially on the offensive boards, but she hasn’t been a featured post player in the system in her two seasons at MSU, and she likely won’t be someone the team counts on to score 15 to 20 points every night.
Taking those players out of the equation leaves Bett, a senior center, who is averaging 4.9 points in 18.3 minutes per game. Foul problems have limited her effectiveness, as evidenced in the last game when she didn’t score and didn’t have a rebound before fouling out after nine minutes.
Johnson, who has led the team in scoring in seven games this season, was 10 of 28 from the field against Louisiana Tech, while Porter was 7 of 16. In addition to going 10 of 21 from the free-throw line, MSU’s other 10 players combined to take 22 shots and score 14 points.
The search for third and fourth options has been something Fanning-Otis has been focused on all season. After a 66-48 victory against Alcorn State on Nov. 17, she talked about how backup guards Jerica James and Katia May needed a mind-set that said, ‘I got this, I got this’ and conveyed confidence, steadiness, and aggressiveness.
Following a 64-47 victory against Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 23, Fanning-Otis said MSU needed to play harder and to get tougher. She hoped the team would continue to take “little steps” that would move it closer to where it needed to be by the time SEC play started. She also said more players needed to showcase the tenacity Brown has delivered at times this season when she attacks the backboards.
“When we get that kind of intensity, that is when you will see a basketball team out there on the floor,” Fanning-Otis said.
Fanning-Otis didn’t see that team for key stretches against Louisiana Tech, even though it trailed by eight points with less than two minutes remaining and had two shots to win the game in the final eight seconds.
“After Louisiana Tech scored some baskets, they got some confidence,” Fanning-Otis said. “They became the aggressor and we didn’t respond. To make the NCAA tournament, you have to be Road Warriors and you have to make effort plays at the end of ballgames. For whatever reason, we became a little soft and lost our focus.”
With four winnable non-conference games remaining before 2012, MSU will need someone to emerge to take the burden off Johnson and Porter, who are shooting 37 and 33 percent, respectively. As a team, MSU is shooing 37.9 percent and has 147 turnovers to 95 assists.
Who steps forward remains to be seen. Freshman Shamia Robinson, a former standout at West Oktibbeha High School, is still working back to 100 percent health, while May, a sophomore, a James, a freshman, are working to get more minutes. Hard-working sophomore Candace Foster (0.4 ppg. in five games) has gotten the call from Fanning-Otis earlier than May and James in the past few weeks.
Gaynor, a junior, could be another option. She is one of two players on the team who have played more than four games who is shooting 50 percent (9 of 18) from the field or better. Alwal is the other (54.2 percent).
MSU will play host to Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m. Monday.
before traveling to Reno, Nev., to take on Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. Dec. 29 in the first round of the Reno-Tahoe Classic.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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