Mississippi State stands up to Connecticut in epic upset

You can always hear the final buzzer when Connecticut plays. It echoes through stands long since emptied on the road or mixes languidly with the sounds of a satisfied crowd at home.

It was only a rumor this night, its presence assumed because of precedent.

You couldn’t hear it after Mississippi State guard Morgan William’s shot arced through the air and dropped through the net with no time remaining in overtime. Not after No. 2 Mississippi State beat No. 1 Connecticut 66-64 to reach the first national championship game in program history. Not after the Bulldogs ended Connecticut’s NCAA-record winning streak at 111 games and its run of consecutive national titles at four.

Mississippi State had a chance to end the streak a year ago, to cut it short before the celebrations and commemorations that defined this season. To halt history in its tracks.

The Bulldogs lost by 60 points. In the Sweet 16. They epitomized a sport without balance.

They found those 60 points somewhere in the intervening year. Well, 12 months and five days. For most of which time the number “60” hung in the team’s weight room as a reminder. They made up all 60 points in 40 minutes of regulation in the American Airlines Center.

Then they played five more minutes to find the final two points needed to complete one of the most remarkable year-to-year reversals — and one of the greatest games — in tournament history.

William’s shot silenced Connecticut. And brought the rest of women’s basketball to its feet.

“I feel like we earned respect tonight,” said William, whose 13 points this night will be as famous as her 41 in the regional final against Baylor. “You know, 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.”

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