Sunday afternoon marked the final regular season game and home game for Mississippi State women’s basketball head coach Sharon Fanning-Otis. After 17 years running the program at State, Fanning-Otis will retire at the end of the season. While the Bulldogs fell 76-40 to the No. 10 Kentucky Wildcats, the meaning of the game went beyond just the play on the court for Fanning-Otis.
The loss gave Fanning-Otis a record of 281-231 as a Bulldog, the most wins of any coach in MSU women’s basketball history. After the game she was honored and received roses from her players while watching a video highlighting her career at MSU. An emotional Fanning-Otis could only describe her time here as a blessing.
“I have been blessed to be able to enjoy the process and be around great people like the staff and players,” Fanning-Otis said. “I don’t want to get emotional, but it’s been a blessing.”
It was an emotional game not only for Fanning-Otis but also for the six Bulldog seniors who made their final appearance at the Hump. Fourth-year Bulldog Danielle Rector and transfer Judith Tabala saw action in their final games, while Ashley Brown, Catina Bett, Diamber Johnson and Porsha Porter all remained in the starting role and played significant minutes as they have done all season.
But on a day that honored the seniors, the Wildcats’ defense did not return the favor. Bulldog seniors were a combined 1-14 in the first half, with the lone made shot coming from Bett on the first possession of the half. Combine this with a Kentucky team that shot 40.3 percent from the field, and it quickly became a long afternoon for the Dogs.
State committed 33 turnovers and shot just 26.4 percent from the field. Leading scorer Johnson did not crack the scoreboard until the second half and finished with only eight points. Johnson, who averages 14.9 points per game, has not reached double digits in her last five games.
Johnson said although she has been in a slump recently, she knows the kind of player she is and is not trying to press anything too much.
“I’m not forcing anything and still trying to let the game come to me and at the same time get my teammates involved,” Johnson said. “Even if I was hitting, it would be the same way — just trying to feed off them and knock down shots, and, hopefully, it comes back for the SEC Tournament.”
The Dogs hardly get a chance to catch their breath before tournament time hits. MSU will open up the tournament as the 10 seed taking on Vanderbilt, who is seeded seventh.
Kentucky clinched the SEC Championship with Sunday’s win, finishing 14-3 in league play. Junior guard A’dia Mathies is an SEC Player-of-the-Year candidate as she has led her team and been second in the conference with an average of 15.4 points per game.
Although Kentucky’s defense is one of the toughest in the nation, head coach Matthew Mitchell was impressed with the Bulldogs’ guard play. He said that will be the key for them making a run in the Tournament.
“The thing that makes them tough is they have some very explosive guards, and, if you don’t do a great job defending them, they can get on a roll,” Mitchell said. “You better be ready to defend them because any time you have strong guard play and your guards get hot in the Tournament, I think you have a chance.”
Fanning-Otis said it will be important for her team to take it one game at a time. It takes four wins to come out first in the Tournament, but it cannot happen all at once. Johnson said the team is not ready to go home after the first game.
“We’re not doubting ourselves; we’ve been playing a lot of games and had a lot of energy coming down the stretch, and in these last games, we’ve been struggling,” she said. “But at the same time, we look at what’s going on, and I don’t think there’s any team here that we can’t be in ball games with. We still feel that we can go in there and shake some things up.”