Mississippi State stands up to Connecticut in epic upset

The sound that instead rolled through the arena Friday night was one of adrenaline and amazement. It was the product of more than 20,000 people watching a team stand up to Connecticut. Of seeing a team that could so easily have been a valiant loser refuse that, too.

This wasn’t a well-place stone from a slingshot felling a giant. Mississippi State had to take down this Goliath by hand. The hard way.

Teaira McCowan, the 6-foot-7 post who took over a Sweet 16 game and who presented a matchup Connecticut didn’t have the personnel to counter, picked up her second foul setting a screen before the game was even three minutes old and sat the rest of the first half.

A lead that reached 16 points at one stage evaporated. Mississippi State became the first team this season to both take and lose a double-digit lead against Connecticut.

One shot to win, the shot every team dreams it will get the chance to take against Connecticut, went for naught at the end of regulation, William blocked by Gabby Williams in the closing seconds with the score tied.

Victoria Vivians, Mississippi State’s leading scorer in this game with 19 points and the person who hit the late 3-pointer in regulation that ultimately got her team to overtime, fouled out a minute into the extra period.

The call that could have lingered in infamy, a debatable flagrant foul on Dominique Dillingham for an elbow to the throat of Connecticut’s Katie Lou Samuelson in the final minute of overtime, went against the underdog. Samuelson hit two free throws to tie the game and the Huskies still had possession of the ball to try and put down the Bulldogs once and for all.

So much for a team needing to play the perfect game to stop the streak. Mississippi State just played its game.

Vivians hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring in the first minute. When Samuelson hit an early 3-pointer, McCowan answered to retake the lead. When she left in foul trouble, Chinwe Okorie took her place and converted a 3-point play that launched a 14-0 run by the Bulldogs.

They led by nine points after one quarter. A year earlier, Mississippi State trailed 13-0 early in a regional semifinal in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It never again was within single digits, the lead something less than 13 points for just 19 seconds.

“From warm-ups, we were intimidated — a ball went over half court and we were too scared to go get the ball,” said Blair Schaefer, the coach’s daughter, of the 2016 game. “I don’t know why. I think because of the names that were on that team, we were just internally scared. And this year, we had no fear. We knew what we had. And we understood people were saying it wasn’t possible for anybody to do it, except for Baylor or South Carolina. But just because we don’t have any All-Americans doesn’t mean that we don’t have heart or we don’t have the tenacity to make it happen.”

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