Dale’s Sideline Report

Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs head coach Vic Schaefer finally received his wish of having the confetti hit his face rather than his back. The Lady Bulldogs had lost the last three championship games to South Carolina, but Sunday won their first ever SEC Tournament, 101-70, over Arkansas. MSU, now 30-2, will begin NCAA play on March 22. MSU’s Tierra McGowan was named the MVP of the tournament. 

The SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament begins this week in Nashville. The Mississippi State Bulldogs (22-9) will play on Thursday night against the Texas A&M-Vanderbilt winner in the late game of the night. Seventh-seeded Ole Miss (20-12) will play right before the sixth-seeded Bulldogs on Thursday against tenth-seeded Alabama. LSU won their first regular season SEC title by one game over Tennessee and Kentucky. Auburn and South Carolina are the fourth and fifth seeds, respectively. 

The USM Eagles (19-11) upset regular season C-USA champions Old Dominion this past week and ended as the third seed in this week’s C-USA Men’s Basketball Tournament in Frisco, Texas. USM will play Thursday night while the Lady Golden Eagles (17-12) will enter as the eighth seed in the conference tournament and will play Wednesday morning against North Texas, also at the Star in Frisco. 

Mississippi State baseball is off to a 15-1 start. The Bulldogs will open SEC play at Florida this weekend. Ole Miss (12-3) will have a mid-week trip to No. 8 Louisville this week before returning to Oxford to take on Alabama (14-2) in SEC play. USM rebounded this week to win four straight to improve to 8-5. The Eagles open C-USA play at Louisiana Tech (10-5) this weekend. 

Odds & Ends 

Qiayon Bailey scored a game-high 28 points to lead Mississippi University for Women’s basketball team to a 69-46 victory over Maine – Fort Kent in the USCAA National Championship Game on Saturday. The W finished its first basketball season in 15 years with a 21-6 record.

The MHSAA basketball champs for 2019 were crowned this past week. Girl champs are Pearl (6A), Olive Branch (5A), Louisville (4A), Kossuth (3A), Newton (2A) and Pine Grove (1A). Boy champs are Starkville (6A), Center Hill (5A), Raymond (4A), Velma Jackson (3A), Bay Springs (2A) and East Marion (1A). 

The 2019 MS/AL All-Star basketball games will be played on the campus of Alabama State University in Montgomery this Friday night at 5 and 7 p.m.

The Mississippi Coaches Association will induct five new members into their Coaches Hall of Fame. Geary Jackson, Kenny Robinson, M.C. Miller, Junior Graham and Ken Bramlett will join other legendary coaches on June 21 at the Jackson Hilton. 

William Carey baseball will honor the 1969 National Championship team on March 23. 

Laurel native Akeem Davis has been named defensive back coach for the USM Golden Eagles. Davis played at Jones County Junior College and then played at Memphis. Davis, who quarterbacked Laurel High School to the 2007 State 5-A football championship, also played in the NFL for the Washington Redskins as well as for four other NFL teams. 

Petal native Anthony Alford (.304) hit three home runs for the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend. He is ranked as the No. 11 prospect in the Blue Jays’ organization. Pearl River Junior College won the Men’s Region 23 Tournament and will head to Hutchinson, Kansas, for the national JUCO tournament for the first time in school history. The Jones Lady Bobcats won their third straight Region 23 title and will head once again to Lubbock, Texas, for the national tournament.
Tougaloo College men won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference basketball title and will head to Kansas City for the NAIA National Tournament. 
USM hosted the first Beach Volleyball contest in Mississippi as they hosted Tulane this past weekend. 
Contact Dale at ddmckee18@yahoo.com