As the Mississippi State University Women’s Basketball team battled Notre Dame for the National Championship Sunday, MSU hosted a watch party at Humphrey Coliseum.
Hundreds of Bulldog fans lined up outside the Hump for hours leading up to the event, as the doors opened at 4 p.m. with free admission.
As fans filed into Humphrey Coliseum, they prepared for what would potentially be MSU’s first national championship win in a team sport.
One of those fans who filed into Humphrey Coliseum was Yasin Simpson, a freshman computer engineering major from Ocean Springs, who said he was entertained by the game, despite the outcome.
“I’m excited to see how it comes right down to the line, even though we always pull through,” Simpson said. “The three-point shots out of nowhere are also great.”
Another student who watched the game inside the Hump was Dante Morr, a sophomore business marketing major from Monterey, California. Morr said she too was excited for the game.
“It’s going to be a good one obviously,” Morr said. “It’s going to be a good game because both teams can actually play.”
Additionally, Morr said she was fascinated by a certain aspect of the event differing from most events at Humphrey Coliseum.
“People brought cowbells to a coliseum,” Morr said. “This is going to be fun.”
In addition to the cowbells and the anticipation for a potential Bulldog win, SEC Now, a television show running daily on the SEC Network, hosted a special edition of the show at Humphrey Coliseum. Peter Burns, the host of SEC Now, said the atmosphere at Humphrey Coliseum was unbelievable.
“I can understand why the cowbells are such a home-court advantage and why they don’t allow them in this building, because it’d be too loud for anybody to hear anything,” Burns said. “It’s so cool, and it just feels like history is going to be made today.”
Additionally, Burns said he believed it would be time for Vic Schaefer’s team to win the national championship.
“They learned from last year, (Schaefer) learned how to prepare the girls,” Burns said. “There are six different girls that can be a difference maker, and I think they get it done tonight.”
Burns also said he appreciates every chance he gets to visit to Starkville and MSU.
“Every time I come down to Starkville, whether it’s the food or the people, they make us feel like family,” Burns said. “That’s the coolest thing, that when we get to go to all of these schools, there’s just something special when you come down to Starkville.”
As the game started, fans appeared nervous at the beginning as the Lady Dawgs started off the game slow. Then, as the Dawgs climbed back into the game, and eventually into the lead, fans applauded and rang their cowbells in appreciation.
Midway through the second quarter, a quarter in which MSU only conceded three points to Notre Dame, fans were sent into a frenzy as junior center Teaira McCowan blocked a Notre Dame shot, which then deflected off the Notre Dame player and out of bounds.
After the second quarter, fans continued to cheer and ring their cowbells as the Dawgs took a 30-17 lead into the break.
One of those fans who was happy about the first half was Pam Brinkley, a December 1983 graduate of MSU with a degree in business administration. Brinkley said she loved the atmosphere after the first half.
“Definitely (McCowan) knocking that ball out of the Notre Dame player’s hand was the best play of the first half,” Brinkley said. “It’s a great day to be a Bulldog.”
However, all the jubilation of the first half seemingly switched off as the fans inside Humphrey Coliseum watched Notre Dame came back from a 14-point deficit to even things up late in the second half.
Then, with three seconds left in the fourth quarter, fans at Humphrey Coliseum seemed stunned when Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to defeat MSU with a final score of 61-58.
As fans left Humphrey Coliseum with the knowledge MSU came up short in the title game once again, Leighanne Lubiani, a 2000 graduate of MSU in sociology from Greenwood, said she was proud of the Bulldogs, despite the result.
“I was extremely proud to be here to begin with,” Lubiani said. “It was frustrating not making free throws, not getting back defensively when we (the Bulldogs) should, blowing a lead, taking nothing away from Notre Dame, they played a heck of a game.”