DALLAS — The Mississippi State women’s basketball team had an itty-bitty problem Sunday that proved to be just as unbeatable as its junior point guard.
After watching Morgan William fuel MSU to victories against Baylor in the Elite Eight and four-time reigning national champion Connecticut in the national semifinals, South Carolina entered the national title game determined not to let William affect the outcome.
The strategy worked, as South Carolina limited William to eight points and four assists in 23 minutes. Without the motor that drives its attack, MSU didn’t have enough firepower in a 67-55 loss before a crowd of 19,229 at American Airlines Center.
“I was ready to play, but I guess I just didn’t perform to the best of my ability,” William said.
William played 44 of 45 minutes Friday night in a 66-64 overtime victory against UConn that snapped the Huskies’ 111-game winning streak. The win helped push MSU (34-5) to its first appearance in the national championships game. But the Bulldogs were unable to duplicate the energy they had on defense against the Huskies or execute well enough on offense to counter dominating performances by tournament Most Outstanding Player A’ja Wilson (23 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots) and all-tournament team member Allisha Gray (18 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks).
Tough defeat
As a result, MSU suffered its third loss of the season to South Carolina, and its 11th in a row in the series. The Bulldogs’ 34.5-percent shooting effort (19-for-55) was the lowest mark in the three meetings this season.
“The games we played it was just the little things,” William said. “Rebounding, denying the ball. … They were going by us and not over us. That was key. They got us in foul trouble.”
Victoria Vivians paced MSU with 12 points, but she was 4-for-16 from the field. She also had five turnovers. Dominique Dillingham (11 points) was the only other MSU player in double figures.
MSU also was unable to get sophomore center Teaira McCowan going down low. The 6-foot-7 McCowan had only seven points (10 rebounds) in 25 minutes. Senior center Chinwe Okorie added two points and four rebounds in 14 minutes.
But South Carolina’s biggest focus was to contain William, who showed an uncanny knack to penetrate and to make things happen as well as make shots against Baylor and UConn.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, who was a point guard when she played at Virginia, credited junior point guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore for helping to slow down William.
“The maturity of Bianca Cuevas-Moore is quite incredible,” Staley said. “I’m extremely proud of Bianca for accepting that role. Being a New Yorker, being Bianca Cuevas, she likes to score the ball. She likes to throw that little sauce out there when she has the ball in her hands.
“She committed to impacting the game by picking Morgan William up, making it very difficult for her.”
Cuevas-Moore said the Gamecocks’ game plan wasn’t really focused on stopping William, but she acknowledged she thought she and her teammates did a good job.
“We made it hard for her,” Cuevas-Moore. “We didn’t let her get anything easy and get shots up that easy.”
Tough night
William was 2-for-8 from the field. She finished the game on the bench, as MSU coach Vic Schaefer went with sophomore point guard Jazzmun Holmes down the stretch. It was a similar plan to the one MSU used in a 92-71 victory against DePaul in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Holmes scored 14 points and had six assists in 25 minutes in that win. She had six points in 17 minutes against South Carolina.
“Jazzmun was playing good today,” Schaefer said. “Morgan, she had some struggles early. … I thought we had a couple of people that just didn’t quite have the energy level we needed. When you combine that with their energy level seemed to be really good, I think that made for a bad recipe for out not being able to handle dribble-penetration.”
South Carolina freshman guard Tyasha Harris also credited Cuevas-Moore. She said the Gamecocks’ familiarity with William and the Bulldogs aided their cause.
“I think she knew how to play her since we did play her twice already,” Harris said. “We knew her tendencies and just watching her play the whole tournament, we knew what she liked to do and where her sweet spots are. I think Bianca did a great job of taking her out of those sweet spots and putting pressure on her and putting her under duress, which made her do more and more. I think she also has been playing 40 minutes (throughout) the tournament, so she got a little tired. We just got the upper hand on that one.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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