Mississippi State to Honor Women’s Hoops Team During Super Bulldog Weekend

(Photo Courtesy: HailState.com)

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – The City of Starkville and Mississippi State will celebrate a historic 2016-17 women’s basketball season during Super Bulldog Weekend festivities.

On Friday, the City of Starkville will host a “Hail State Family Party” on the plaza in front of City Hall. The Bulldogs will ride fire trucks up Main Street to the plaza, where at 4:30 p.m. a special ceremony will be held recognizing the first Final Four in program history.

From there the Bulldogs will head to Nusz Park for the 6 p.m. SEC softball contest against South Carolina. Seniors Ketara Chapel, Dominique Dillingham, Chinwe Okorie and Breanna Richardson will throw out the ceremonial first pitch. The second-ranked Dawgs will then throw out T-shirts in the second inning.

On Saturday, Vic Schaefer’s squad will sign autographs prior to the Maroon and White spring football game from 2-3 p.m. in the North End Zone concourse of Davis Wade Stadium. Commemorative national finalist posters will be available to be signed by players, and fans can have one item per person signed by the Bulldogs’ fifth-year head coach.

There will be a special celebration honoring the historic run to the national title game at halftime of the spring game.

Following the spring game, the team will head to Dudy Noble Field/Polk-DeMent Stadium for MSU’s 6 p.m. baseball contest against Kentucky. Schaefer will throw out the first pitch, and the team’s accomplishments will be recognized during the SEC contest.

The Bulldogs finished the year with a program-best 34-5 record and advanced to the program’s first Elite Eight and Final Four.

In the national semifinal, Vic Schaefer’s squad halted UConn’s 111-game win streak to advance to the NCAA championship game for the first time.

Mississippi State claimed its first win against a No. 1 team with Friday’s victory against the Huskies. That followed a win against No. 5 Baylor in the Elite Eight, the first time State has knocked off back-to-back Top-5 foes.

The Bulldogs set the single-season wins record for the third-straight year, and they also claimed a program record for SEC wins as they went 13-3 to match the top league finish in school history with a second-place showing. State advanced to the SEC Tournament championship game for the second time in as many seasons.

MSU, which spent the entire season in the Top 10, sent seniors Ketara Chapel, Dominique Dillingham, Chinwe Okorie and Breanna Richardson out as the winningest class in school history with an 111-34 record, the second-most wins in the SEC since 2013-14.