State set to participate in Hall of Fame event

It hasn’t been long enough for memories from the Mississippi State vs. Connecticut women’s basketball game in the 2017 women’s Final Four to fade away and there could be more moments coming between the two teams.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced on Tuesday the participants in this year’s Seventh Annual Women’s Challenge taking place in Uncasville, Conn., on November 28-29. MSU will take part along with Uconn, Maine and Quinnipiac. The event takes place at the Mohegan Sun.

“I’m really excited to be a part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Challenge,” MSU head women’s coach Nikki Mccray-penson said in a school release. “I was a part of this event when I was at South Carolina, and I’m excited for the opportunity to be around basketball greatness and see that again.

“A lot of coaches I know, including my former head coach Pat Summitt, are in the Hall of Fame. Dawn Staley and a lot of my Olympic teammates have been inducted into the Hall as well. It’s where this all begins. We will be going up against some great competition in Maine, Quinnipiac, and Uconn. I’m really looking forward to the event.”

The Bulldogs and Huskies are the two premiere teams in the event, but they’ll have to win a game on Saturday, November 28, to meet each other again. The Huskies go up against Quinnipiac and MSU will face off against Maine.

State has beaten Maine all three times the two teams have met and it’s 1-1 against the Huskies. The win happened to be one of the most historic in women’s college basketball history in 2017 when the Bulldogs ended a 111-game winning streak by the Huskies in the Final Four in Dallas with a 66-64 overtime classic that ended with Morgan William’s buzzer-beating midrange jumper.

MSU ended up losing in the national title game against South Carolina, but the game is still remembered as one of the best of all time in the sport. The Huskies missed out on getting to the national championship game the next two seasons as well and they were on pace to see their run as a No. 1 seed end this season before sports were canceled due to the novel coronavirus (CO