As the buzzer rang, the crowd screamed in relief of winning against a historic powerhouse while the band played the Mississippi State fight song with spirit. Mississippi State players dropped to their knees in victory after fighting an uphill battle, snapping a 36-game losing streaking against the Tennessee Volunteers.
   The game was a well deserved win after losing against the South Carolina Gamecocks, but the Bulldogs weren’t always in front of the Volunteers. The Bulldogs had trouble finding an offensive rhythm, but had a cleaner performance compared to the Volunteers’ defensive struggle. 
  Center Chinwe Okorie played well on both sides of the ball throughout the entire game. She totaled four points, four rebounds and a steal for the Bulldogs in the first quarter. Tennessee’s Bashaara Graves and Jordan Reynolds kept a pace for the Volunteers. 
   The Bulldogs edged a close one-point lead to enter the second half at 17-16. The second quarter of the contest mirrored the first quarter as both teams matched the competition at hand, though they were both hindered by excessive fouls with low shooting percentages.
   It was not until the sixth minute that the contest began rolling with a free throw shot by Breanna Richardson, when she sparked a competition as Andraya Carter fired back to give Tennessee a 21-20 lead. 
 Dominique Dillingham and Chinwe Okorie lead the team with assists and defensive rebounds to keep the game close. 
   “We are realizing that we are never out of the game,” Dillingham said. 
The first half ended with a tie at 33.
The dynamic of the game began to turn in Tennessee’s favor as they opened up a twelve-point gap. The game slowed down for the Bulldogs as their shooting percentage was eleven percent, successfully shooting two for seventeen.
 “In the third quarter, we were awful,” Head Coach Vic Schaeder said.
 Once the Bulldogs began to lose control of the game, the Volunteers went on a 8-0 run, making up for six minutes of the third quarter. Andraya Carter, Bashaara Graves, and Jordan Reynolds worked together to dominate the third quarter as they gained a twelve-point lead, ending the third quarter at 52-43 in Tennessee’s favor. 
   The fourth quarter was a triumph in an uphill battle. Dominique Dillingham started the Bulldog’s with a jumper. Morgan William took over to begin the comeback. 
   Throughout the fourth quarter, Victoria Vivians began to make herself known from her second chance shots and overall offensive performance. 
 Chinwe Okorie kept pounding with  strong defense to keep the ball away from Tennessee. As a whole, the team mastered a solid rhythm to erase the twelve-point defecit. 
    Schaefer  was proud of his team after the tough win, but tipped his hat to the competition as well.
   “Everything the girls shot in the fourth quarter was contested. Tennessee is a monster rebounding team,” he said. “This makes two games in a row that  we have done a great job of rebounding against teams with really good size.” 
  Tennessee stopped scoring at the 4:34 mark when Jordan Reynolds went one for two free throws. In response, Dillingham sunk a jumper. 
   Morgan William used the clock to her advantage shooting a three pointer as the shot clock expired, cutting the lead to just two. With under two minutes to go, Reynolds fouled Victoria Vivians.
   She shot both free throws which tied the game at 58. As time expired, Vivians took a three-point shot to end the game, but missed as the nail biter moved to overtime.
   During the overtime period, Vivians opened up with a 3-point play that gave the Bulldogs momentum they needed.     
  Tennessee took a shot lead as Te’a Cooper completed both free throws, but dominating Okorie rebounded Vivians’ missed three and scored a jumper. Morgan William scored the Bulldogs last point in the final minute.      As Tennessee tried to gain the last shot, the Bulldogs were deemed victorious as Cooper missed a layup at three seconds while the time finally expired. 
 Schaefer had heartfelt words to say.
 “This was tremendous toughness from our team, they kept battling. They found a way to win.” 
  This was Mississippi State’s first program win against the Lady Volunteers in 36 years of the contest. The Bulldogs will take on Missouri in the Humphrey Coliseum on Sunday to begin finishing the second half of SEC conference play.