DALLAS — Morgan William used the word “timid” Thursday to describe the Mississippi State women’s basketball team’s performance against Connecticut last season.
In the Sweet 16 for only the second time, MSU fell behind 32-4 after one quarter en route to a 60-point loss that went down as the largest margin of defeat in a regional semifinal.
That loss stayed with William and the Bulldogs throughout the offseason and into the 2016-17 season. They vowed Thursday things would be different because they were a year older and weren’t intimidated by the 11-time national champions.
Consider that confidence affirmed.
William hit a 14-foot jump shot just before the final horn Friday night to lead MSU to a 66-64 overtime victory against four-time reigning national champion UConn at the American Airlines Center.
“I feel like we earned respect tonight,” said William, who was one of four Bulldogs in double figures (13 points). “People didn’t believe in us, but it didn’t faze us. We just had to go out there and play. I feel like it showed we’re better than what everybody thinks.”
With the win, MSU (34-4) snapped UConn’s 111-game winning streak and secured a spot in its first national title game. It will take on Southeastern Conference rival South Carolina, which beat Stanford 62-53 in the first national semifinal, at 5 p.m. Sunday (ESPN).
William, who scored a career-high 41 points in a 94-85 overtime victory against Baylor in the Elite Eight, again proved to be the hero. With the game tied at 64, MSU took possession following a timeout with 12.3 seconds left. Dominique Dillingham took the inbounds pass and moved the ball up the court. She dribbled to the right of the top of the key and didn’t pass the ball to William until there were less than four seconds remaining. William was to the left behind Dillingham, but she moved quickly to the right of the free-throw line. With 5-foot-11 Gabby Williams guarding her, William, who is listed at 5-5, stopped just inside the foul line and rose up and appeared to fade to her right a little. Her high-arching shot swished through the basket nearly in sync with the final horn and the lights on the backboard.
“Coach (Schaefer) was like, ‘Morgan, you can win the game,’ ” said William, who added three rebounds, six assists (two turnovers), and three steals. “(The play) wasn’t originally for me, but the way they had guarded, I told Dom to get the ball and take it down the court. Time was just ticking. I knew the last — end of regulation, I went for a layup, they blocked it. I was like, ‘She probably thinks I’m going to do it again.’ I got in the space, I jumped up, I made the shot.
“When I made the shot, I was in shock. I’m still in shock. I’m over here like, Hey, I just won the game. My teammates are just so happy and proud of me. I can’t thank them enough because I can’t be playing the way I’m playing without them.”
UConn (36-1) tied the game after the officials reviewed video of a UConn possession that ended in a tipped pass by Teaira McCowan (10 points, eight rebounds) and a turnover. Following the review, the officials assessed a foul on Dillingham for an elbow to the throat/chin of Katie Lou Samuelson. Samuelson hit two free throws to tie the game. UConn then had a chance to take the lead, but Saniya Chong lost the basketball on a drive to set up the final play.
“We didn’t want them to penetrate too deep, which they did,” said Williams, who had a game-high 21 points, eight rebounds, two assists, four blocked shots, and two steals. “We were trying to face guard a little bit and put pressure on the guards so they couldn’t bring it up as fast. Just had some help defense but came up short.”
UConn coach Geno Auriemma felt Chong, who started out guarding William on the final sequence, did a “pretty good job.” Unfortunately for the Huskies, he said, William “made a great play.”
“We said if they’re going to make a shot it’s got to be a pull-up jump shot,” Auriemma said. “(It) can’t be a stand-still (shot). (It) can’t be a layup.
‘That’s one of the toughest shots to make from that distance under that kind of pressure. … I always tell my team one play doesn’t cost you a game. It almost never does. … But a lot of times one play will win you a game. That’s exactly what she did.”
William’s play also helped the Bulldogs erase the memories from last season and put to rest all of the talk about their 98-38 loss last season.
“Like coach (Schaefer) said, it was personal,” MSU junior guard Victoria Vivians said. “We got beat by 60 last year. We had to prove we’re a way better team than we was last year.”
MSU senior forward Breanna Richardson echoed that sentiment. She said Schaefer told the players Friday morning they had to take it personally.
“We knew if we played our game, our style, you never what the outcome was going to be,” said Richardson, who had 12 points and seven rebounds. “We knew if we played hard, played our game, we’d come out with the win, and we did.”
MSU built a 29-13 lead — the largest against UConn this season — and led 36-28 at halftime.
UConn (36-1) twice took one-point leads and grabbed a two-point lead in the third quarter, but MSU responded. In the fourth quarter, Saniya Chong hit two free throws with 2 minutes, 42 seconds remaining to give UConn a 57-56 lead. Gabby Williams then poked the ball away from William and scored on a layup to make it 59-56.
If you believed the patented UConn run was going to wash MSU away, it never came. Instead, Vivians (team-high 19 points) hit a free throw and then drained a 3-pointer with two seconds on the shot clock to give MSU a 60-59 lead.
“These kids have tremendous heart,” Schaefer said. “They also have a little pride. We had our pride stepped on last year by another great team, just like that one today. We didn’t play well. They played really well. We got our tail handed to us.
“Because of that, these three (Vivians, Breanna Richardson, and William) and the rest of their teammates, they’ve kind of been on a little bit of a mission. They have tremendous pride. They have tremendous heart. They’re fighters.”
MSU missed out on a chance to win in regulation when Williams blocked a drive by William. The Bulldogs then overcame Dillingham’s foul on Samuelson and were ready to step into the spotlight and take on a bigger role.
“We believed in our locker room it could be done,” Schaefer said. “A year ago, I’m showing the “Miracle,” hoping for it. This year, I wasn’t showing the “Miracle.” We weren’t watching any movies. I wasn’t talking about the Philistine slaying the giant, although it was in the back of my mind.
“In that moment, they were ready for the moment. Morgan had 41 against Baylor. Ain’t any shots bigger than the one she hit tonight. But that’s the shot we wanted. That’s who we wanted taking it. At the end of the day, you got to want to be in that moment. Our kids want to be in that moment.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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