It would be an understatement to say that Vic Schaefer’s women’s basketball squad has had an ideal start to its season. Some questioned whether or not losing three seniors to injury     before the start of the season, including pre-season All-SEC selection Martha Alwal, would obstruct the team’s chances of beginning the campaign with any semblance of consistency. However, after five games played on the season, including a preseason scrimmage, those questions have been put to bed and this Bulldog team is well on its way to what could be a very successful season. 
Head Coach Vic Schaefer sat at the press conference after his team’s win on Sunday, giving a lot of credit to Western Kentucky, but at the same time reveling in the fight his team displayed in the second half of the Championship game. 
“It was one heck of a basketball game. You gotta take your hat off to Western Kentucky. What competitive fire those kids have and tremendous energy as well as effort. Unlike the last time I sat in here, I thought today we did get out hustled and toughed on a lot of possessions, but with about seven minutes to go, they just decided that they had had enough,” he said. “We got into attack mode, made good decisions and finally got some stops. We wore them down a little bit, and I just love how hard we played till the very end.”  
Western Kentucky’s road to the WNIT finals came with wins over Central Arkansas, an overtime victory against Colorado and an efficient performance versus Albany. The Lady Toppers’ strength during the tournament rested in their starting five, who all lagged high minute totals and possessed a certain chemistry that shined on the basketball court.
While the final score read 88-77 in favor of the Bulldogs, it was very much a tight contest throughout the entirety of the game, with both teams responding to the other’s action in back-and-forth fashion. The first half would see Western Kentucky shoot a hefty 47.4 percent, and hold the lead at 42-39, even though it was out rebounded by the Bulldogs 23-17.  The Bulldogs Achilles heel in the first half was the amount of turnovers they committed, after twenty minutes sat at a total of 17.  
A lot of the Lady Toppers’ success in the first half came through the sweet shooting stroke of point guard Kendall Noble and the pristine post moves of Chastity Gooch, who combine to shoot 10-21 for 21 points, to go along with their 11 rebounds. In response to Western Kentucky’s quick start, Schaefer would later make the decision to go small and match up the quicker, more agile Katara Chapel on Gooch, which worked in the Bulldog’s favor in the second half.  
Victoria Vivians led the Bulldogs with 12 points and six rebounds at halftime, helping alleviate the massive amount of pressure the Lady Toppers placed on the front line of Mississippi State. Vivians, along with sophomore Dominique Dillingham, took a committed approach to the defensive end of the court all night, as both were assigned tough defensive assignments on the night, but served to hold the course throughout out the basketball game. 
The 13:13 mark was a defining moment of the second half, when Gooch was able to knock down a jumper to give her team the 61-52 edge in the ball game. A 30-second timeout ensued immediately after and the atmosphere in the Hump was one filled with nervous murmurs from the crowd. It was at this point in the game that things starting changing in favor of the Bulldogs in a lot of different aspects. 
First, the Lady Topper starting five logged a large majority of the minutes for the visiting team. This served to bring to light a couple of major issues, starting when their core group of players began to accumulate fouls quickly. With roughly six minutes remaining in the game, all five of the Lady Toppers’ starters were playing with four fouls, and on top of that, it became visible that they were beginning to get worn down from the relentless attack that the Bulldogs began playing with. Morgan William, one of the quickest guards in the entire country, used her speed to get to the basket every chance she got, contributing to the Lady Topper foul trouble and tired legs in the later stages of the game. 
Dillingham would tell the media after the game how she stayed on William to continue attacking the basket, due to the fact that no one on Western Kentucky could remotely match her speed in the open court. 
“No one could guard her on that team. She could break that press every time and I told her keep pushing,” she said. “Every time down the floor, I was like just go, so yeah I just didn’t think anyone could guard her.”
The Bulldogs would close out the game on a 22-8 run, which was aided by the fouling out of the Lady Toppers three leading scorers for the night. At the end of the day, the Bulldogs’ depth was able to wear down Western Kentucky’s starting five, culminating in issues for the visitors from Kentucky. 
Western Kentucky Head Coach Michelle Clark-Heard, pointed toward Morgan William’s second half as a real contributing factor to her team’s inability to close out the second half.  
“She’s a great player, and we all knew that. She’s quick as lightning, can put it on the floor, and we knew that. We tried to change up our defenses and I think that when she scored a couple of baskets, I think we slowed them down by changing back to man,” she said. “That’s what it’s all about, changing things up and reading the game to understand what is going on, so I take my hat off to them for doing the same.”       
William’s dominating second half would net her 15 points, four assists and two steals to lift the Bulldogs to their first tournament win title since the 2006-2007 season. Vivians finished the game with a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds, cementing her place as WNIT tournament MVP, after averaging 19.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and shooting 40 percent from the field. 
Vivians spoke after the game, but instead of lamenting in her MVP award she chose to talk about this tournament as the first step toward where the Bulldogs want to get to by season’s end.  
“This felt good but we feel like we have a lot more to do. We are not satisfied. We know it’s a good start but we can only get better,” she said. 
With the addition of the injured seniors back into the line up in the upcoming days and weeks, Vic Schaefer will have a lot of options at his disposal, as he now sports one of the deepest rosters in the country. He talked about the where he believes his team currently is at this early juncture of the season, in terms of energy level and play on the court.  
“I can’t argue with it. I’m proud of how our young kids are taking stuff from what our sophomores are doing,” he said. “I’m proud of our fight and I’m proud today of how we have been staying after it.”
The Bulldogs will look to continue their perfect start to the season tonight as they host the University of Louisiana Monroe at 7 p.m.