Thursday night’s game followed the same script that Bulldog fans have grown accustomed to seeing from their women’s basketball team over the last month, as the team scratched and clawed its way to win 69-44 on the shoulders of its defense. 
While it was not pretty on the offensive end for long stretches of the game in the first half, the contributions of Kendra Grant and Victoria Vivians’ second half eruption from distance proved to be enough for the Bulldogs to pick up their 22nd victory on the season, as well as extract revenge for their loss at Vanderbilt earlier in the month.   
After the game, a very happy Vic Schaefer spoke openly about how one of his senior leaders, Kendra Grant, sparked the best offensive performance the team has had in awhile coming off the bench. 
“If we don’t have Kendra, it’s an ugly game, a tied ball game probably at the half,” Schaefer said.
The Bulldogs were stellar on the defensive end of the court, only allowing the Commodores to shoot 34.7 percent from the field. Martha Alwal was relentless in the paint, blocking two shots and altering the trajectory many more. Coach Schaefer has his team playing high intensity that ultimately fuels what the Bulldogs like to do on the offensive end. It speaks volumes about where the team is currently from a defensive standpoint, as it hasn’t allowed a team to shoot over 41 percent from an entire game since its double overtime loss to LSU on Jan. 15. 
Schaefer did not waste any time in praising his team’s defensive effort on the night during his opening comments to the media and pointed to a pretty even flow of great play throughout the entire game. 
“I thought defensively we were locked-in from the get-to,” Schaefer said. “I thought all night we were really good, and just playing with a lot of purpose, knowing the scouting report.”
First halves this year have proved to be the achilles heel for the Bulldogs, who have not been able to put together a solid first 20 minutes from start to finish for over a month. The team has shown the need to feel the game out before going into attack mode, which is a dangerous game to play when the ream goes up against the likes of some of the upper echelon teams within the SEC. MSU has managed to find the path to victory by getting timely offense from a plethora of different faces at various points throughout this successful season thus far.    
One player who achieved a career milestone on the night was Martha Alwal, who became only the third player in SEC history to record 1,000 points, 900 rebounds and 300 blocks for her career. Alwal described the achievement as one she is more than happy to add to her distinguished time at Mississippi State and added that it was “very cool” and “not a surprise in terms of the block shots, as I have been doing that since middle school,” Alwal said.
Vivians continued her hot shooting streak from the previous game against Vanderbilt, as she went 7-15 from the field and 5-8 from beyond the three-point line. The freshman continues to show her ability to shoot from distance, which is a much-needed dimension that the Bulldogs look to continue in their next three games that all come against top 12 teams in the country. Fortunately for Vic Schaefer’s squad, it will get a seven day rest after their match with Tennessee, which should allow the Bulldogs ample preparation for their tough schedule to close SEC play before the tournament takes place in Fayetteville, Arkansas.