City of Starkville Honors Bulldogs' Successful Season
March 16, 2016 | Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State hosts its first NCAA Women's Basketball Championship this weekend, and Tuesday night Mayor Parker Wiseman and the Starkville Board of Aldermen officially deemed it Mississippi State women's basketball weekend.
At Tuesday's meeting, Wiseman made an official proclamation honoring Vic Schaefer's Bulldogs for a successful 2015-16 season.
“We were certainly honored by Mayor Wiseman and the Board of Aldermen declaring this weekend Mississippi State women's basketball weekend,” Schaefer said. “It's an honor because this community has really embraced our team. We are so honored that they would make such a proclamation.
“We are very honored, and we want the mayor and the board to know how appreciative we are of this community and how it has embraced our women's basketball program.”
Mississippi State will host its first NCAA Tournament after claiming a 26-7 overall record and 11-5 SEC mark.
Schaefer, along with players Morgan William, Dominique Dillingham, Blair Schaefer and Victoria Vivians, received a standing ovation from everyone in attendance.
“It was very special,” Schaefer said of the ovation. “Our players and my staff deserve all the credit. There has been so much hard work, commitment and dedication that has gone into building this program the way we have done it. This community has embraced our program, and we are so honored and blessed to be part of such a tremendous community that supports women's basketball the way ours does.”
MSU's 26 wins are the second-most in school history, one back of last season's top mark, while its 11 conference wins tied the 2014-15 squad for the program record.
The Bulldogs also claimed a program-best tie for second place in the SEC and went on to defeat Vanderbilt and Tennessee to earn the school's second SEC Tournament championship game appearance.
In his fourth season at the helm, Schaefer guided the Bulldogs to a third straight 20-win season for the first time, and double-digit SEC victories in consecutive years for the inaugural time.
Mississippi State also matched its highest SEC Tournament seed and claimed its highest rankings in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls at Nos. 7 and 6, respectively.
The Bulldogs also made history at the turnstiles again, drawing a record 80,705 fans. State drew a school-best 10.626 for its regular-season meeting against South Carolina, the fourth-largest in Humphrey Coliseum history and the largest ever to watch a women's college game in the history of the state of Mississippi.
Mississippi State, a No. 5 seed, opens NCAA Tournament play Friday at 1:30 p.m. against Chattanooga in Humphrey Coliseum.
Tickets are on sale now at www.hailstate.com/tickets or by phone at 1-888-GO-DAWGS.
