HAILSTATEBEAT: Dawgs Do It Again: Johnson's Shot Sends State To Championship Game

No great show ever lacks for drama.

For the second year in a row, Mississippi State found itself on the right, nerve-wracking and euphoria-inducing side of the biggest shot of the postseason. And for the second time in a row, an orange ball falling through the bottom of a white net ultimately meant the Bulldogs were going to the National Championship. Five minutes of game time after that shot, MSU was celebrating a 73-63 win over Louisville in overtime of the National Semifinal game.

When Roshunda Johnson's three went in to tie the game with just seconds left in regulation, the quadrant of the arena containing MSU's bench, fans and family members erupted in yelling, clapping, stomping, standing, jumping and general "Oh my"-ing.

The lack of concern for a last-second Cardinals basket following that big shot was itself disconcerting, but the moment the ball cleared the air in the center of the rim, everyone seemed to know. It was like watching a movie where things keep going wrong for the protagonist, but everyone knows the hero will win the moment the tide turns near end of the story. Though overtime offered emphatic confirmation when it started with yet another three by Victoria Vivians, the end result felt inevitable well before the show's conclusion.

Of course, it required that one pivotal moment to go MSU's way, and that was an eventuality planned during a timeout after UL hit a shot to go up 59-56 with 11.3 seconds left. On the sideline, head coach Vic Schaefer told his team exactly what they were going to do, and exactly how they were going to do it.

He knew, clearly, that his team needed a three. As he pondered his options for who should take the shot, the obvious choices were a pair of senior sharpshooters, Blair Schaefer and Roshunda Johnson. Johnson, at the time, was 0-for-2 from three for the night. So, naturally, Schaefer opted to give her the ball.

"I don't think you can get caught up in where she is tonight," Schaefer said. "She wants to be in that moment.

"I could've picked either one, but I really felt like they were going to run with Blair and I thought she could be a great decoy," he continued.

So that was the first part of the call – fake it to Blair. The ruse worked as the Cardinal defense shifted at once to stop her from getting the shot.

The second part required success from someone who had already given her all. Teaira McCowan had played every second of the game with only 11.3 remaining, but the entire design depended on her getting Johnson open. With the rest of the defense trailing Blair, McCowan would only have to set a screen against one person to ensure Johnson would have a clear shot.

But she had to lay that screen.

"I knew the back would come wide open," Schaefer said, "if T could just catch half of her."

When Blair ran over the top to the right wing, Johnson streaked the opposite direction to the left wing, a design set up specifically to have the ball being delivered to her left hand when it came in, ready to take the shot as soon as she got it.

As Johson came across the middle of the court, McCowan stepped up, planted her feet and set her sights on the one defender she had to block.

"I got her," McCowan said. "So I knew [Johnson] was going to be open."

Sure enough, Johnson was open and the pass came in, landing in her left hand just as planned.

So that was two parts of the three-part plan executed perfectly. Of course, it was the third part, the three part, that mattered the most. It was all for naught, quite literally, if Johnson didn't make the shot from behind the three-point line.

"It's the biggest shot of your career, of any stage you're ever gonna play on," Schaefer said.

"Shooters never give up on their shot," Johnson said. "Even when I was missing, I wasn't going to stop shooting just because I was missing."

So the ball came in, caught with the left hand. Feet planted, Johnson turned her eyes to the basket, the only set of eyes in the entire arena that weren't focused on her. She lifted her arms, jumped into the air and sent her shot, her team's last hope, sailing into the air.

The biggest shot of her career, the biggest shot of State's season, fell into the basket and the collective world of Mississippi State basketball went wild.

Less than an hour later, victory secured, Johnson shrugged her shoulders and shyly offered her assessment.

"When I hit the shot," she considered, "it made me 1-for-3."

It was the one three she made, and it was the one Schaefer knew would go in.

"When things get a little bit tough, and too tough for most people, that's when things are just right for us," he said.

"It's our second time to do it," Vivians said. "We're still making history for our school."

Mississippi State University Athletics

HAILSTATEBEAT: Dawgs Do It Again: Johnson's Shot Sends State To Championship Game

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