LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Mississippi State killer struck again Thursday night.
This time, Makayla Epps had a lot of help from classmate Evelyn Akhator to keep her record against the Bulldogs spotless.
Even though Akhator tied for game-high scoring honors with 27 points, Epps was in the right place at the right time to grab an offensive rebound and score on the putback to help push No. 22 Kentucky to a 78-75 overtime victory against No. 3 Mississippi State before a crowd of before a crowd of 5,244 at Memorial Gymnasium.
“The shot came off Vivians’ fingertips and it is so crazy, it is basically almost the same exact shot and the same exact outcome,” said Epps, who had 22 points and five assists in 44 minutes after scoring 42 points two years ago in the thriller in Lexington. “It is just crazy how things happen, and I only had two rebounds and that was one of them.”
The loss prevented MSU (27-2, 13-2 Southeastern Conference) from clinching at least a share of the program’s first league title, and the first for a women’s sport at the school. No. 7 South Carolina beat Texas A&M 80-64 on Thursday night to move into a tie for first. MSU will play host to Tennessee at 4 p.m. Sunday, while South Carolina will play host to Kentucky at 1 p.m. Sunday.
“She owns me,” MSU coach Vic Schaefer said of Epps. “She’s single-handedly beaten me both times here. Last year at our place, it wasn’t so much her but everybody else, but here she has been special. I will take some solace in knowing she has done it to a bunch of people. She is a heck of a player. She wants the ball. She just has a real presence about her.”
MSU had a chance to take the lead, but it committed its third of four turnovers in the extra session. The miscue gave Kentucky (20-8, 11-4) a chance to win, but Makenzie Cann missed a 3-pointer from the right corner. The ball caromed to the right side of the lane, where Victoria Vivians appeared to be in position to grab it. But the ball glanced off the hand of Vivians, who said she was off balance, and into the hands of Epps, who converted the putback with 8.7 seconds left.
MSU had one more chance, but Vivians was called for traveling on a drive from the left wing. Replays shown on the video board showed Vivians made contact with Akhator at the knees or below and fell to the ground.
When asked for her assessment of the play after the game, Vivians said she traveled and there wasn’t any contact.
The 22 turnovers were the most MSU has had in a game this season. The miscues overshadowed a 26-for-54 shooting performance (48.1 percent). MSU limited Kentucky to 41.2 percent (28 of 68) from the field.
Maci Morris hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1.8 seconds to go to account for the final margin. Vivians missed a 3-point heave at the buzzer.
“Their kids really played an outstanding ballgame. This should be about them,” Schaefer said. “They played harder than us tonight. I have to wear that as the coach. I obviously didn’t have my kids ready to play. We turned the ball over 22 times. Give them credit for that. We only forced nine. Give them credit for that.”
Epps scored Kentucky’s first 10 points of the third quarter to help the Wildcats build their biggest lead, 38-31. From there, though, the game was a back-and-forth affair in which both teams struggled to put multiple plays together.
While Epps took over in the third quarter, Akhator, a 6-foot-3 forward, scored 22 points in the last two periods. Many of her points came on drives to the basket against the 6-5 Chinwe Okorie or the 6-7 Teaira McCowan. In all, Kentucky scored 17 points on drives to the basket in the fourth quarter and in overtime.
“Before the game, coach Mitchell told us the post players couldn’t guard us,” Akhator said. “I had to take them off the dribble. They went into foul trouble early, so that gave me a plus to attack them off the dribble. Epps and the rest of the team believed in me.”
With Epps and Akhator sparking Kentucky, William and Vivians scored 16 of MSU’s points in the fourth quarter. Vivians tied Akhator for game-high scoring honors with 27. She also had seven rebounds. William had 20 points, five assists, four rebounds, and two blocked shots.
But Epps’ play was a hot topic after the game. Even though she only had two rebounds, her hustle play epitomized the effort the Wildcats used to win their fifth-straight game and 11th in a row in the series.
“It was a great hustle play,” Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said. “She kept playing, kept battling and found a way to get it in the bucket.
“A lot of times, when people see a shot missed they are kind of loafing back or not going to the boards. She just hung in there, hung in there. It was a huge play in the game. I thought she and Evelyn really stepped up on Senior Night.”
Epps took extra satisfaction in knowing her work fouled out Dominique Dillingham, who has guarded her most of the time in the previous matchups.
“I have a lot of love and respect for coach Vic Schaefer,” Epps said. “He has a lot of tremendous players, but two that really got my respect — Victoria Vivians and Morgan William. I knew he was going to have something for me. Dominique Dillingham is a great defender. She was on me tough all night. They had the paint packed. I started off struggling. I got frustrated in myself at the beginning, but my teammates rallied behind me.
“To top them off at 4-0 (in the regular season, 5-0 overall), it feels good,” Epps said.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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.