Mike Siroky's SEC Notebook: Booming Finish With Two Tourneys On Tap

By Mike Siroky

The thing about women’s basketball always has been there are elite teams, sometimes only one (UConn recently) and there is everyone else.

In the women’s SEC, for a long time that one team was always Tennessee. They remain close, and the tie for the regular-season league title just underlines the condition of the top two teams in the conference.

Kentucky awoke just in time to cause this, bashing the confidence of SC at home in Lexington, 67-56.

SC and UT seemed destined to be the No. 3 and No 4 of the NCAA No. 1s, with No. 1 UConn and No. 2 Notre Dane leading that exclusive club.

An interesting possibility is the Lady Vols and the Gamecocks could try to untie the conference tie on Sunday, in the tournament closer.

LSU continued the scrambling on the final day of the season, knocking off visiting Texas A&M,


The Ben-Gals, with 16 overall wins, is fourth in conference.

Will the NCAA make this the fifth SEC team, even unranked?

It will start the argument of a 16-win team getting in over one with more. No SEC team has ever advanced into the NCAAs without 20 wins (and some otherwise undeserving teams have made it with 20 wins because of the league).

LSU was included last season by gaining a 20th win in the league tournament, but those were the days when pre-determined sub-Regionals included Baton Rouge.

•In the first big game of the week, when the nationally ranked No. 3 Lady Gamecocks entertained the No. 11 team nationally, Mississippi State, the expected happened, which is to say a blowout.

Still, State did not move in the rankings, which is how it should be.

It was State’s misfortune to visit on Senior Night, though everyone knows SC will get two home games in the NCAA start.

Still, these things usually play to the advantage of the departing players. Aleighsa Welch and Elem Ebian are the SC seniors getting the most playing time.

The games are allegedly set by computers (or their programmers) but it was projected nonetheless as a measuring stick between the latest league team to arrive in the national stage vs. the after and since that.

It started 21-16, home team, with seven minutes left in the half.

The league player of the year, last and this, Tiffany Mitchell, scoring seven. Mighty Martha Alwal had 10 in an attempt to keep State close.

But it was over at half, 39-26. Mitchell’s 14 led SC then. A’ja Wilson was her usual self off the bench, with eight.

The lead only increased by four but it did increase.

Lakaris Salter, off the bench, matched Alwal with 14, but the latter was all but shutout after intermission fot the Bulldogs.

SC was led by Mitchell’s 16 and Wilson’s 13.

Coach Dawn Staley remained focused on work yet to come.

“I think for where our program is trying to go, it would take a step in the wrong direction if we didn’t perform on the road against Kentucky,” coach Staley said of the immediate next game, In an amazingly accurate projection of how the season would end.

Beyond that, “I make sure that our players understand the big picture and where we’re trying to go,” Staley said, “but also understand the history of this program and where it’s come from, to keep that hunger.”

“I was disappointed in how we played tonight,” State coach Vic Schaefer said. “You have to tip your hat to South Carolina and what Dawn has done with this program. What a great atmosphere. She has a great team. They are physical. That is my kind of team.

“I wish we could have given them a little more of a fight. It was our worst game of the year. We let it get away from us at the end of the first half.”

Victoria Vivians and LaKaris Salter led the Bulldogs with 14 points apiece. Martha Alwal was also in double figures with 12 points and a team-high six rebounds.

Vivians and Wilson are undoubtedly the best rookies in the league and maybe in America. Vivians starts. Maybe that is the tiebreaker.

Staley has built a national program. Schaefer has just now arrived on the national scene. Who is the better coach. If league coach of the year literally means that, then it is Schaefer.

The new co-champs are the Lady Vols of Tennessee, a payoff for grinding through the always-tough pre-conference and not losing focus when they lost their senior leader, the top scorer and rebounder.

So for the No 3 & 4 seeds in this week’s conference tournament: Mississippi State is No, 3 because it beat both LSU and Texas A&M. LSU beat A&M to close the season and thus is No 4.

If you are keeping track and the seeds play out, it will be SC vs. LSU and State vs. Tennessee in the other semifinal. The Kats also finishes 10-6. But UK lost to both LSU and A&M.

The first-round setup is at the close of this report.

Against South Carolina, No, 12 Kentucky bravely took a 27-22 halftime lead on its Senior Night.

UK center Azia Bishop, with 10, was the only player on the court in double figures.

Reserve freshman guard A’ja Wilson had nine for SC. Shooting was awful. SC hit 29 percent from the field and UK 28 percent.

UK needed this one more. Perhaps that is best way to look at this.

Yes, the Kats remain not in the two-day break of the top four finishers, but this keeps them nationally responsible and perhaps one of the last teams to qualify for two home games to stat the NCAAs.

SC was led by Wilson’s 16. She may be good enough to start soon.

Kentucky got 15 points from senior Jennifer O’Neill, 14 from Makalya Epps and 11 from bishop. If the Kats do not edge into the first round of the NCAAs at home, this was a fine finish anyway.

“Sometimes life doesn't work out where people get what they deserve,” said UK coach Matthew Mitchell.

“That was going to be a hard game to win. I wasn't really worried about the outcome. I was so proud of them for what they have done but it sure is icing on the cake to get the victory and their memory of "Senior Day" is going to be something special and they deserve to feel good today. I am really proud of our team as a whole and especially proud of our seniors."

SC coach Dawn Staley said, "We always give ourselves a chance to win. We just have to make shots. We got ourselves back into the game and then we felt trapped by missing point-blank range layups with no defense around. We were fighting to get back in and missing those types of layups, it deflates you. It makes it hard for you to get energized.

" We wake up tomorrow and we try to get back at it. We have a lot left in the season and you do need to reflect on winning 27 out of 29 games."

•. No. 5 Tennessee moved into a tie for the regular season league title, their 18th, by bashing Vanderbilt, 79-49.

SC has the tiebreaker, of course, but Tennessee puts down more and more markers as a No. 1 seed in the national tournament by gaining the regular season title.

In a serendipitous corollary, the only two undefeated at home teams in conference won the championship.

The Lady Vols are pretty good at these Senior Night things. The best one is done, of course. Izzy Harrison may have earned all-conference before she blew an ACL, but she is all-crutches from here on out.

Her classmates filled in. Ariel Massengale scored 17 and Cierra Burdick, the other senior starter, scored 10 in a 15-point advantage in the first half, Massengale was 6-of-8 from the field and Burdick 5-of-8.

Vanderbilt, one of those teams stuck on the down elevator, had been rated as an NCAA team by one of the Internet "experts." A 14-15 overall may actually engender an admission of idiocy. Don't wait for it.

Tennessee completes an undefeated home season. It has defeated every team not based in South Carolina for 10 straight games. Like SC, it did not lose on the road in conference.

Irregardless of what happens in the SEC tournament, tradition will be served by the only team to make every NCAA tournament once again at home for two more walkovers.

They are either the last No. 1 or the first No. 2 seed nationally.

It ended as a blowout, 79-49. With 25 wins, they fall right in line behind SC (27) And Mississippi State (26), the three top teams in the top conference.

Massengale finished with 26, an impressive 8-of-11 on 3s. She and Bashaara Graves each had six rebounds as UT won the backboards by 10.

"I wish every night was Senior Night,” UT coach Holly Warlick said.

“I think we did some great things. It was a great team effort. We played hard. We were tough down the stretch. The first half we turned the ball over too much. We made adjustments and got that straightened up. I'm really proud of our effort and the whole team."

No stranger to properly honoring players, she called a time out to get Harrison on the home court one last time and in control of the basketball for a final possession, with not even one minute played.

"I just thought it would nice for Izzy to hear the crowd one last time for her at home,” Warlick said. “That's the only way we could do it. I got nervous Just giving Izzy some great respect that I think she well deserves. She's been a vital part of this program and this team.

“ Izzy came in and wasn't a McDonalds All-American, wasn't highly recruited, and she had to play behind Glory Johnson and Vicki Baugh, so she earned her stripes. She's really worked hard to get where she is.

"I think Izzy is the best post in the country. I hear coaches talk about her, I see her work, I see what she does when she gets the ball. It's been a real joy and pleasure to watch that kid grow up and see her become the player she is."

So they are co-champions.

"Our goal is obviously to have a great season and to win the SEC championship, but we talk a lot about post-season, and what we want to do, and that our goal is to go to the Final Four,” Warlick said.

“You can say it but do you believe it? I think those young ladies believe it because they put in the time and the work. I think you have to build trust, and when you build trust, you do it in practice and Ariel and our seniors work hard in practice, are great leaders in practice, and they have bought into everything we have asked them to do.

" I think they believe it because they know they have earned everything they have gotten this year with hard work and total dedication and has earned a lot of trust with our team and coaching staff.

"Hey it's awesome! These players deserve it and it's all about the credit to them and how hard they've worked and really proud of them. They've worked hard this season and they've worked hard since Izzy got hurt. That's awesome and I'm really excited for them. I'm excited for our staff and I'm not going to lie, I'm excited too.”

Georgia, which has obviously lost the will to continue, had a dismal Senior Night with Tennessee visiting. Yes, Georgia is still in the conference.

The Lady Vols had 12 from Cierra Burdick at the break, with a 39-27 lead. Sprinting from a 20-19 edge in the final nine minutes of the half. AS SC had done to State, so did Tennessee rip the fight out off Georga, 70-59.

If they are headed to the NIT, as would be justified, the ‘Dawgs will have another home game. Othewise , they are done this season in many ways and Coach Andy Landers needs to start playing his underclassmen almost exclusively.

"Tennessee really did shoot it well," Landers said. "Massengale made big shots, both open 3s and off of the bounce. They shot the ball well, but we defended reasonably well, too. They shot a few of those shots in spite of being defended well. So, you give them credit for shooting the ball well. I think defensively, we did a pretty good job. They were just red hot."

Freshman Mackenzie Engram, who got her fourth start of the season, led the Georgia with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists. Classmate Haley Clark scored nine, with four rebounds, five assists and two steals.

"We're playing younger players more than we've played all year and they continue to get better," Landers said. "I thought (Halle) Washington again was very, very good. I thought Clark was very, very good and Mackenzie was very good.

"The younger players are playing well. The fouls that our post players experienced early in the game were a problem for us. It was a problem then and it was a problem for the rest of the game. But I think we are making progress."

Tennessee is on the national stage, of course. In the opposite spectrum, their seniors are playing well.

Coach Holly Warlick woke up senior Ariel Massengale. She had been shut out in a dismal no-show performance at South Carolina. She scored 17. Fellow-senior Cierra Burdick scored 18.

With only the one loss in conference and solidly second to South Carolina, Warlick said, "It's a great win for us. I thought we did some good things. I thought in the first half, we took good shots, so that's why you see the 66 percent (at the line).

“Our defense was, especially in the second half, not very solid. We weren't attacking the ball, we fouled too much and gave up too many 3s. You can't give up eight 3s.

"Once they hit a couple, you have to understand they can shoot the basketball. They battled and we knew they were going to. Sixteen turnovers, you can't do that. You have to protect the basketball. But it was a big win for us."

•It was not only Georgia with a lousy senior sendoff. No. 18 Texas A&M saw Missouri reserve Maddie Stock ruin the Aggies’ Senior Night with a 3 with one second left.

Missouri had its upset win of the season, 70-69. Last time these two met, Stock had led a near-upset. This time, she cemented one.

It was a double whammy for the Aggies as game manager Jordan Jones tore an ACL to finish her season. That scrambles everything for the league as well as the A&M immediate’s future this season.

Now A&M is outside that golden ticket group who will open the NCAAs at home. They need a good showing in the conference tournament to even be considered.

Jones was in the national rankings in assists (11th) in coach Gary Blair’s carefully crafted offense, she was the key.

Jordan Frericks scored 25 to keep the Tigers in it until Stock’s big shot.

Which does not explain how she got that open. Sierra Michaelis went the length of the court and drove into traffic before kicking out to Stock who was open on the right corner. You might have figured she’d be the best-guarded player, but not so
Missouri had sent Curtyce Knox to the free-throw line where she gave the Aggies a two-point lead with 7.7 seconds left.

Khaalia Hillsman had her first career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds for Texas A&M. Courtney Williams added 16 points including a turnaround 12-footer that tied the game 67-all with 41 seconds left.

Of course, like Tennessee, South Carolina and probably Mississippi State, A&M has earned first-round home games in the NCAA eliminations.

But that does not erase the stink of losing to a team with only 16 wins, six in conference while trying to earn the two-day pass at the start of the league party.

Missouri coach Robin Pingeton is appreciative of the accomplishment, given the opponent and the site.

“Obviously this is an awfully tough place to play,” she said.

“ I am really happy for our players and really proud of them. It has been a challenging year with all of our injuries. I feel like we continue to stay the course, we have been playing some really good basketball right now.

"Hats off to coach Blair and this program, its just an incredible program. We have so much respect for them and we do not take this win lightly. I think senior night can bring a lot of emotion sometimes it works for you sometimes against you.

As for the game-winning shot: “Yeah we have been in that situation before against Alabama. We watched a lot of tape after that Alabama game. We ran the exact same play we did against Alabama.

“We knew we wanted something going to the rim, but we didn’t need to force that.

Against Alabama we had that trail in bounder was wide open. I said to Cierra if you have something going to the rim be aggressive with it and know that Maddy is going to be open on the fill behind. I thought for as big of a shot it was, it was just a big of delivery. They executed very well.”

Texas A&M’s Blair took the blame for lack of preparedess. His team is not Alabama. He should have been very aware of the Tiger plan on the closer.

“You allow a team to shoot 61 percent in the second half and make five 3-pointers on you, good things are usually not going to follow,” he said.

“We played OK offensively we had some good looks, we got the ball inside like we wanted to, we got to the foul line like we wanted to a lot better than we did in Missouri. I want to give Missouri a lot of credit for execution.

“On the last play we were supposed to be in a soft man, and just keep our man in front of us, and we had to switch.

"That last shot, was the only 3-pointer Stock had made the whole game, but she has been making them the whole month. When she gets a wide open 3, you’re supposed to lose a game in that situation. I give them a lot of credit, they have won four out of five now and we had everything on the table sitting there for us, with LSU getting beat at Ole Miss.

“I was proud how our kids came back. I hate it for my seniors. We had a chance to go undefeated at home this year for only our second time since I have been here. Every time I thought we had the game in hand, they would make a play or we would get beat on our shots. I give them credit.”

So with only a road test at mercurial LSU left, Blair had to try and refocus with a key player and suddenly a one-game chance at redemption.

“We are playing for fourth place,” he said. “We are still playing for the double-bye. If we win it we are in fourth place. We have to stop worrying about people helping us we have to help ourselves. This was a good ball game. The atmosphere was great, the crowd was great, I want to thank the Corps for showing up. It was just a good basketball game. Sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. We lost a heart-breaker here, but when you’re at home, you are supposed to find a way and we have got to be more disciplined on end of game situations, and end of clock situations.”

Texas A&M Forward Achiri Ade said, of the end, “We were supposed to be in a soft one. We weren’t supposed to let that drive come through and I think they had to switch men on the press. They got back and I think someone didn’t get back on the shooter. And Courtney Williams took away the drive she did good defense on that. We let Stock get her open shot.

“So we just regroup and do what we’ve been doing. Going to practice working on our weaknesses, working on what we could have done better, and executing better. You know, the little things.”

At still-unranked LSU, A&M’s Courtney Williams did her part at halftime, with 14 points, but had not much help.

Ben-gals superstar Raigyne Moncrief was scoreless, but teammates Deshawn Harden (5-of-7 from the field 3-of-3 from the line) had 22 and Danielle Ballard (6-of-6 from the line) had 10.

A&M trailed by 14.

Eight minutes in the closing half at home, LSU still was ahead by 16 and this thing was headed the wrong way for the visitors. It was still –14 with three minutes left. The wow! Factor is how uncompetitive A&M looked. It ended 80-63. The Courtneys, Williams and walker, scored 19 and 12 for the losers.

LSU was led by Harden with A career-best 28, the five 3s also a career high. Ballard scored 20 and Moncrief woke up with 10 in the second half. Each side is 10-6 in the league, though LSU obviously has the tiebreaker.

This gives Blair a chance to recoup the legend, even though the Aggies fell the out of the double-bye in the league tournament.

He also said LSU, having beaten his team, obviously belongs in the NCAA show. As for the game itself: “This had nothing to do with the injury to Jordan Jones.

“This had to do with LSU perhaps playing with the most energy that I’ve seen them play with in a long time. They were outstanding, and everything that they did was good.

"We haven’t had much trouble with presses all year, but we turned the ball over 15 times in the first half and 12 of those were by my three best players, so no excuse there.

"All of us have injuries particularly in the SEC this year. We’ve lost a lot of great players. I’ve been lucky. For two years, we haven’t had a player miss a ball game because of an injury.

“Yes, Jones would’ve helped on the press, but Jones couldn’t have stopped the energy LSU had and knowing they were playing for their NCAA lives. We were playing for a Top 4 national seed (he may the only one who believes that) , which we don’t deserve based on how we finished our last four games.

“Hopefully, this win will put LSU in there which they need to be. (DaShawn) Harden played like what a senior should play like on a Senior Day. She has taken the back seat to (Raigyne) Moncrief and (Danielle) Ballard for too long. That kid can play; she’s a threat.

“. LSU deserved it. I think we got down 26 or something and fought to get it back to a reasonable deficit. We fought to get it to 10, but then the turnovers started again.

“Turnovers are the whole game. I’ve never had a game where I shot almost 60 percent, 50 percent from the 3 and 81 percent from the line and lost. But turnovers will do that.”

LSU had lost to unranked teams Ole Miss and 15-18 overall and Arkansas in the previous two games. Georgia, also unranked, has two more overall wins and Ole Miss has won more, plus the head-to-head.

Coach Nikki Caldwell knows it is time to address the national naysayers so she had her spin prepared.

“This was a very emotional game for a lot of different reasons,” she said.

“ We’ve got unbelievable seniors. What they’ve meant to this program, it was very special to be able to send them out on a good note as far as our regular season is concerned. It was also great to have a bunch of our alumnae back who have paved the way and who have been such an example for these young ladies.

“I know the stories they were telling (at dinner) last night really came into play. I saw a team that really took that to heart and really wanted to win, not just for themselves but for the alums and for the fans that were here.

"We had a special group that joined us. We had an opportunity to spend some time with them. The orange t-shirts that you saw in the stands – orange is the color for Disability Awareness Month. We partnered with them (the Arc of Baton Rouge) to bring awareness and also to bring a little joy to those who have family members with disabilities. We talked about that in our pregame talk and wanted to make sure that we didn’t take for granted the support that we have here. That’s what this game was about today.

“(This game) obviously strengthens us from an RPI standpoint. It also allows our team to have another win over a Top 15 team. When you look at our last 12 games, which the committee looks at, we’re 8-4 with the four losses coming on the road, so that’s a strong statement.

“ I truly believe that we have a very fun group of young ladies to watch. Our guard play is pretty strong. I think you all can agree that. A lot of the coaches in our conference can agree that Danielle Ballard is one of the best guards, not only in our conference, but in the country. You don’t have players like (Riagyne) Moncrief who can also go off on you at any time. Obviously when you look at what (DaShawn) Harden did tonight, that’s another player who’s explosive. We’ve got the personnel to match that resume that you want to take into the NCAA tournament.”

Last year, LSU won its 20th in the league tournament, opened the NCAA with a bidded home guarantee and won those, admittedly upsetting better seed Georgia Tech by 20 to open it, then was blown out in the Sweet 16 (-26) by Louisville.

The previous season, they also won two at home, having again bought their way in, and again upsetting a higher seed but then lost in double-digits off campus.

In 2012, they lost the second game at home by double digits to a better seed. In 2012, they lost the second game at Duke to Duke. And in 2011, they had purchased the first two home games and did not leave campus, losing the second game.

Sense a trend? You get to say you were in the NCAAs because of the school’s largesse, but you don't need to remind anyone you did nothing with the opportunity.

•Winning at Arkansas, which has proven its devaluation of the women’s game with the employment of its coach of the moment, is not a big deal.

But for once-proud Kentucky, trying to gets its swagger back, a road win is still a win and this one set up the next and the two-game win streak to close the season.

So gaining a 20th win for a progran-record six straight seasons (the fourth 20-win group in conference this season) and guaranteeing a non-losing conference mark is good enough. They could not avoid playing in the second night of the conference tournament.

Alexis Jennings hit a layup, and blocked a shot with 60 seconds left. Kentucky's Linnae Harper then missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but Bria Goss forced a turnover and ran the length of the court for a layup to end it, 56-51, stalling a three-loss tumble and setting up a 5-5 final 10.

The damaging loss this season was at beatable LSU. Without that, the Kats could have had a guaranteed two-game NCAA home start and been the solid No. 3 or 4 team in conference, with an extra strategy day to start the SEC tournament.

•Mississippi State celebrated its best season in decades by winning at home on Senior Night. It was all that was needed to clinch two days off to start the SEC tournament and it was against state rival Old Miss.

It may even grant State two home games in the NCAAs.

By far, the place to party on the final day of the season was Starkville.
State capped a wonderful season – with more to come – by dropping state rival Ole Miss, 55-47.

Even with the loss, Ole Miss has one more win than LSU and State has the third-best league mark at 11-6.

Super senior Martha Alwal will get some all-conference votes. She finished with 13 rebounds, nine defensive and nine points. Even this many decades into the women’s game, there are still legacies to be made at schools that have had great success in the past. She has 240 points this season and 943 total career rebounds.

One of those just under way is Victoria Vivians, the undisputed league freshman performer this year, finishing with 17 points and six rebounds, four defensive. She hit 8-of-11 from the line. She has 464 points this year.

State has 26 wins and was 17-1 at home, also in line for a home opener in the NCAAs. The celebratory crowd was 7,326, a state record for women’s basketball. The season home attendance record is now 67,958.

Vic Schaefer should be league coach of the year.

“It was a tremendous day for us and for women’s basketball,” he said. “I am so proud of the seniors. To be able to send them out with a win before the largest crowd in school history is special. To win 26 games in a regular season is an achievement. It takes a special team.

“Ole Miss came in here playing really well. You knew they would keep punching. They played with no fear. We knew it would be a dogfight and a battle. We settled in and were able to deal with them defensively after the start.”

Jerica James, Kendra Grant and Savannah Carter all started with classmate Awal.

“We literally started at the bottom,” Alwal said. “There were games where they were a couple of hundred people here. You had to get yourself going. The crowds have grown and been really huge. They have been supportive and they have really helped us win.”

Emotions got the better of the home team to start. Ole Miss scored the first seven points. State was not to be denied and had the lead at 11 four minutes in, to make this technically a come-from-behind event.

“I’m awfully proud of these kids,” Schaefer said. “I know how hard we have had to work to be in this position. South Carolina, Tennessee and Mississippi State (as the top three) is special. Still, we haven’t played our best basketball yet. We finished third in the biggest, baddest conference.”

THE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

Florida will open the tournament against Alabama and Auburn plays Vanderbilt on Wednesday. None of them are likely to go any further in games that matter. On Thursday, Arkansas plays a Georgia team fighting to get off NCAA life support; Ole Miss ditto vs. Missouri.

LSU and circumspect Kentucky play the first two winners the second night.

The real teams start Friday. We’ll be back nightly with game reports.

The usual honors will be announced. We’d like to see Mississippi State’s Vic Schaefer get coach of the year, though Holly Warlick has done a stupendous job steering her Lady Vols to success after losing their leading scorer and rebounder, Izzy Harrison, who still should make the first team All-SEC.

Tiffany Mitchell is as good as anyone else to be player of the year, a repeat. The real contention should come in rookie of the year, which Victoria Vivians has earned as a starter and leader at State; but A’ja Willson will get votes for being the best sixth man on the title team. Starter vs. reserve; when you say it that way it should not be a contest.


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