Even though Sunday’s 64-56 loss to Duke brought  tears from the majority of the players, when the final whistle blew in the Mississippi State University Bulldogs game.
MSU Head Coach Vic Schaefer applauded his team’s work effort after the game, but lamented the fact  the shots just simply would not fall for his squad when they needed them the most.
“I’m proud of our effort. We just didn’t make shots,” Schaefer said in a news release. “At the end of the day, if you get shots, sometimes you’ve got to make shots. We just didn’t make shots.”
The Bulldogs came out of the halftime locker room fired up and pushed their lead at the time up to as many as six points with 15:49 left in the second half before the momentum would swing drastically back in the favor of the Blue Devils, who would not look back on this occasion.
In particular, Blue Devil freshmen Azura Stevens and Rebecca Greenwell were the keys for Duke in helping stave off a late Bulldog run to seal the victory and clinch a berth in the Sweet 16. Stevens posted a 22-point and 10-rebound stat line while Greenwell added 17 points, most of which came from the three-point line in the second half.
From the 15:49 mark on toward around nine minutes left in the game, Duke would go on the defining run of the game, outscoring MSU 12-2 over this stretch, all of which would occurwith Victoria Vivians on the bench, as she picked up her third foul earlier in the half.
Throughout the season, the Bulldogs became reliant on Vivians’ ability to score the basketball, and the difference between having her on the court versus on the bench ended up being the deciding factor in whether they won or lost games. Unfortunately for MSU, Vivians’ hand injury during the SEC Tournament loss to Kentucky and her foul trouble against Duke on Sunday would end up being more examples of how instrumental it was to have her on the court rather than on the bench.
Although the Bulldogs faced a large deficit halfway through the second half, they valiantly fought back as a team to cut the Duke lead down to six with almost a minute left to play. The Bulldogs were denied an offensive foul call on Duke when it was deemed that Greenwell was impeded by Bulldog sophomore Dominique Dillingham, rather than pushed by the Blue Devil.
Schaefer saw it in the later fashion than what the referee saw and let his opinion be known loudly and demonstratively. He received a technical for his actions, and if it had not been for the bench restraining him, he may have been shown an early exit from the game.
Afterward, Schaefer said he will always stand up for his players when the time is right, especially one who works as hard as Dillingham.
“I’m going to fight for her every day and twice on Sunday,” Schaefer said. “That kid gives me everything she’s got. When I think something’s going on that isn’t fair to her, you’re going to find me in the middle of it.”
Duke would go on to win by nine, ending what could be argued to be one of the most successful seasons in the history of the MSU program—statement that many may not have seen this success as even in the realm of possibility roughly three years ago when Schaefer took the job. Grant said she remembers hearing from her coach all that time ago that this finish was possible.
 “Three years ago when coach Schaefer came, he told us, if the (players) he inherited stayed out, we’re going to get you here,” Grant said. “Three years later we’re here. Obviously, he’s a man of his word.”
Looking forward, Schaefer likes the future make-up of his team and reiterated after the loss there should be plenty  of good times to come for the Mississippi State women’s basketball program.
“Bottom line is we end most games with two freshmen and two sophomores on the floor,” Schaefer said. “I feel, obviously very, very good about our future.”