HAILSTATEBEAT: Vivians Takes Over New Court As Homecoming Queen
October 26, 2017 | HailStateBEAT
HailStateBEAT
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The thought faded soon as the hoops star turned her focus to the upcoming basketball season. That junior campaign turned out to be not only the best of Vivians' career, but the best in the history of Mississippi State women's basketball. In fact, it was the best in the history of all MSU sports, as Vivians and her teammates raced out to a record-breaking start and wound their way to the National Championship Game in Dallas this April, securing that appearance by pulling off one of the biggest upsets in basketball history as they ended UConn's 111-game winning streak.
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Forgive Vivians if she forgot about her wish to be Homecoming Queen in all the hubbub. The friend, however, remembered, and when she saw an interest form on campus this year, she quickly grabbed one for Vivians.
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Â"I was like, why not, let's do it," Vivians said. "And I won."
In fact, she won by a lot, receiving over 60 percent of the vote. The next closest candidate had 11 percent.
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Vivians, of course, was used to attention. She was enshrined in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame before she even got to college, thanks to her stellar high school career. Limelight is no stranger than daylight for the basketball star. However, while having all eyes on her was nothing new, being voted Homecoming Queen was a complete 180 from everything she had experienced before.
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Â"It was cool," she said. "I mean, it was fun being in a different environment besides the basketball court. I'm not in my basketball uniform, I'm in a dress with makeup on, so that was pretty cool."
She soon realized, however, that being in a dress and walking across the field at halftime of the Homecoming game is a bit different than the introductions she's so used to experiencing at Humphrey Coliseum.
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Â"You get kind of nervous walking in front of those people," she said, "because you've got to think, 'don't trip over your dress and don't fall.' Like, on the basketball court, you can fall and get back up and people won't even think about it. It was a little nerve-wracking going out there and making sure everything was perfect."
Even the compliments and congratulations she received were new to Vivians.
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Â"The past week they were all like, 'you're so pretty.' And it's different," she said. "It's different compliments because they always talk about basketball, now they're actually talking about you. It's pretty cool."
That was last Saturday, though. This Saturday she's got a basketball scrimmage, and in just a couple weeks, MSU starts its season. Vivians will certainly be more comfortable in sneakers than heels, though the pressure will be far greater. But no matter what, she managed to bring her campaign slogan to life – she's the Queen of all courts.
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