After hitting the game-winning shot with 3.3 seconds left against No. 16 Vanderbilt Feb. 16, Martha Alwal carried the Dogs on her back in an overtime, come-from-behind win against Ole Miss Sunday. 
The junior was named the SEC Player of the Week Monday after tying her career-high with 25 points and 23 rebounds, becoming the first SEC player since 2008 to pull down 20 boards. She was also named a finalist for the Gillom Trophy Monday, an honor given to the state’s top women’s basketball player, which she claimed last year.
 Alwal said she knew she had a mismatch Sunday and wanted to take advantage. 
“I knew it was a team smaller than I was, so I just tried to go out there and dominate,” she said. “In the past, I have taken some plays off, so I tried to not do that tonight. I just wanted to concentrate and really play as well as I could.”
After trailing by 13 at one point in the second half,  Mississippi State University won the game 72-70. With the win, the Lady Bulldogs improved to 18-10, 5-9 in SEC play, and Ole Miss fell to 10-18 and 1-13 in the SEC. Both games between the two teams this season were decided by two points and went into overtime, but the Lady Dogs fought their way back into this game and relied on Alwal to come out with the win.
Sunday’s game provided more than Awal having a mismatch, though. 
She has come on strong as of late and seems to be playing even harder and with more focus. In MSU’s loss against Bama Thursday, Alwal had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and against Vanderbilt she added 23 points and six rebounds. 
Head Coach Vic Schaefer also acknowledged the coaches felt Alwal was a mismatch for Ole Miss. 
“This is the type of game that Martha is capable of,” Schaefer said. “We challenge her every game to go out and get 20 rebounds. We had been really working hard this week because we knew this was a game in which she could have that type of performance.”
This game was not all smooth sailing for the Dogs, however. 
Ole Miss jumped out on the Lady Bulldogs early and dominated the first half going into halftime with a 42-35 advantage and all of the momentum. The Rebels carried the intensity into the second half as they eventually built a 55-42 lead with 13 minutes left in the game. 
Down 13 with everything seeming to go the Rebels’ way, the contest looked all but over at that point. 
The Lady Bulldogs would not go away as they rallied and pulled off a phenomenal comeback. 
They scored twice as many points as the Rebels in the last 12 minutes of the game, going on a 26-13 run to close the second half and force overtime. 
The overtime period was thrilling, but two big jump shots by Awal and  freshman Dominique Dillingham sealed the deal for MSU. 
Junior Savannah Carter said the team simply refused to give up. 
“It was our third overtime game, and we had lost the first two,” Carter said. “So I felt like it was our time to come out and win one of those.”
Schaefer said it was a great day to be a Bulldog, and the Humphrey Coliseum crowd helped the Lady Dogs win the game. 
“Any Mississippi State fan with a pulse knows the importance of playing the school up north and beating their butts,” Schaefer said. “I think the biggest key today was the crowd. It really got us going. There was some tremendous energy in the building today.”
The Lady Bulldogs host No. 12 Kentucky Thursday at 7 p.m. in their home finale.