“I’m a little disappointed, but I think it kind of had to happen at some point”, said Jennifer Casparino, a freshman from Newington. They are an awesome team. I feel awful for them. “I wanted to take the shot, and I made it”.
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The U.S. won gold in Rio de Janeiro last summer with UConn coach Geno Auriemma leading the way. When Holmes played well and gave the Bulldogs a spark, Schaefer left her in the game.
“I feel like we earned respect”, William said.
The 56-year-old Schaefer has also made women’s basketball a hot ticket in Starkville.
The Bulldogs (34-4) advanced to play SC (32-4) in an all-Southeastern Conference national championship game on Sunday evening at American Airlines Center.
By knocking off four-time defending national champion Connecticut, Mississippi State probably caused ESPN to scrap a lot of prepared footage in prelude to the Huskies playing in the national championship game on Sunday. It was a game that snowballed late after the Bulldogs controlled the third quarter. Muffet McGraw’s team earned another No. 1 seed this year, but were hit with a awful dose of bad luck when 6-3 forward Brianna Turner – the team’s leading scorer and rebounder – tore her ACL in a sound-round win. She stayed at a public high school and managed to set the state scoring record with 2,740 points.
Once half-time was reached, SC was dominating MS with a score of 36-26.
Since that time, MSU has been a different team on that side of the court. “But how proud am I of my kids?”
USC (32-4) certainly has the Bulldogs’ number to this point, but neither of the teams have played in a game of this magnitude. He had been dismissed as a lifetime assistant coach before Mississippi State hired him in 2012.
Prescott said he’d try to come back Sunday for the title game. The Gamecocks battled back to tie and scored the first quarter’s final five points for an 18-14 lead.
A crowd of about 250 fans formed a 100-foot long human tunnel, three to four deep, as the players, weary-eyed and loaded down with their carry-ons, moved through the gauntlet, pausing briefly along the way for a hug, a fist-bump or a quick selfie. “We didn’t come this far for nothing”.
The fans cheered former Harrison Central guard Jazzmun Holmes every time she touched the ball, particularly after she scored on a jumpshot in the lane in the fourth quarter to put the Bulldogs within 48-44.
Morgan William has given Mississippi State a spark, going for 41 points in the Elite Eight against Baylor before her heroics at the end of overtime against CT.
During their last two decades of dominance where they’ve won 11 national championships, the Huskies rarely found themselves trailing – let alone by double digits.
UCLA: After losing to UConn in the Sweet 16, the pieces are in place for the Bruins to take the next step.
“Somebody’s got to beat UConn at some point and who is better than us?”
The Bulldogs started strong, quickly building a 7-1 lead with five points from Vivians.
That’s the future, but whatever happens for Mississippi State women’s basketball – and a national championship is not out of the question – the foundation was laid by the four seniors.
The Huskies did answer with 12 straight, with the last seven from senior Saniya Chong to get it down to four. She’s going bowling. She’s heading right for that weight room to wipe off that magic marker, as surely as she’s replaced the image of Mississippi State in the nation’s consciousness of a particularly grim victim of the Huskies with their vanquisher.
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The players present were Seimone Augustus, Sue Bird, Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, Tamika Catchings and Lindsay Whalen.
