The bye will give extra time to prepare for No. 15 Mississippi State, which just suffered its first loss Sunday against Vanderbilt. The Crimson Tide will travel to play the Bulldogs Sunday at 3 p.m.
“I think [the bye] comes at a great time. Most importantly having Ashley [Williams] out, our leading scorer,” coach Kristy Curry said. “I think too, with our team it certainly gives us a chance to take a deep breath and to keep this in perspective, and focus again on just getting better everyday.”
Williams was injured last week during the South Carolina game when she suffered a concussion. Curry said she has not been practicing yet, but they have been keeping a day-to-day monitor on her progress.
Freshman Quanetria Bolton along with senior Brianna Hutchen played the most minutes at the vacant forward position next to junior starter Nikki Hegstetter.
“I looked at NeNe [Bolton] before the Ole Miss game and said, ‘It’s us two,’” Hegstetter said. “You have to have that mentality that it is you two against the world when you are down low. So you work with whoever you got, and that is your partner.”
The Bulldogs enjoyed an 18-game win streak to begin the season, the longest in the program’s history. It is the first time MSU has landed in the top 15 since the 2002-2003 season. The team is lead by freshmen Victoria Vivians and Morgan William.
They are the two leading scorers on the team and combine for 25.5 points per game. Vic Shaefer is in his second season at Starkville, Mississippi, and has turned the program into an SEC contender.
“He has inherited a nice core group and really built around that core group. They are very athletic,” Curry said. “The good thing for us is the fact that we have played Kentucky, we’ve played Ole Miss. The styles are very similar. So it’s not a new preparation for us this week. I think it will really benefit our team.”
