With the help of Victoria Vivians’ three-pointer with 55 seconds remaining, the Mississippi State University Bulldogs found out for the first time what it feels like to taste victory against SEC foe Texas A&M. 
No. 13 MSU (No. 17 before the upset) knocked off the Aggies 63-61 in overtime in front of a frantic crowd of nearly 5,000 people. After stopping A&M on the final shot of regulation, the Bulldogs came back from an early deficit during the overtime period and helped Head Coach Vic Schaefer pick up a win against his former mentor, Gary Blair. With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 8-3 in conference play, going into another tough game against Kentucky in Lexington on Thursday. 
An emotional Schaefer spoke after the game on how much it meant to him to get a win against the man he coached under for more than a decade. 
“Obviously, I have a tremendous amount of respect and love for that man. We spent 15 really good years together and he’s a big brother who has mentored me. I’ve learned so much from him, and I had nine great years at Texas A&M, with all of my friends being there. I hope he’s proud of me. I hope he is proud of my staff and what we have been able to do in three short years. It’s very difficult.”   
The game saw a plethora of lead changes and no team at any point in the contest held a lead of more than eight points. Both teams put in the work defensively, holding each other to less than 33 percent shooting and forcing over 12 turnovers. 
Once again, some of MSU’s youngest contributors came up large in the most important junctures of the game. Whether it was Morgan William using her craftiness to get into the lane and finish at the basket, or the clutch three-pointer by Victoria Vivians in overtime to give the Bulldogs the lead for good, the contributions from the freshmen cannot be overstated. 
Schaefer reiterated he has the utmost confidence in his freshmen to get the job done, no matter the situation. 
“I believed in these kids from the day we signed them, from the first time we went to practice,” Schaefer said. “They’re players. They’re competitors. They’ve got toughness about them. They’ve all made big shots in their careers.”
The last two seasons saw the Bulldogs play the Aggies twice, losing both games by a combined 86 points, and both times it never seemed as if the Bulldogs had any chance of leaving the court victors. 
Senior center Martha Alwal, who was one of the few current Bulldogs present for those previous lopsided games, has a sense of newfound pride in finally being able to get a win against a team that has typically beaten the Bulldogs during the course of her career.
“I am excited,” Alwal said. “Getting the win today was really big for this team. We have worked so hard. Since my freshman year, we hadn’t beaten Texas A&M, so this really meant a lot to us.”
The depth gives the Bulldogs flexibility to deal with any matchup problems that arise during the course of a game. When starting sophomore guard Dominique Dillingham fouled out of the game, Schaefer had the luxury of bringing in seniors like Kendra Grant and Savannah Carter to help close out the tight overtime period. This type of team structure will pay dividends in help getting the team to where it ultimately wants to end up competing with the best teams in the country in the NCAA Tournament come March. 
Eight conference wins in arguably the toughest conference in America should be enough to get them over the hump. If the Bulldogs continue to win games against the likes of ranked opponents, they could be a pretty high seed come tourney time. Even the opposing coach Sunday said the Bulldogs’ latest win should be the final piece of the puzzle to get them into the tournament. 
“Welcome to the NCAA Tournament,” Blair said, who won a national championship with Schaefer on his staff in 2011. “That gives them eight wins. They’re in.”     
The Bulldogs still have a couple of tough games on the road against quality top 15 opponents, including Thursday’s game at Kentucky. A win against the Wildcats would do wonders for the Bulldogs’ chances of securing a first round bye for the SEC Tournament as well. 
Thursday’s SEC match-up tips off at 6 p.m. and can be seen on the SEC Network.