Missing Sue Gunter
The LSU women’s basketball team lost for the first time in coach Sue Gunter’s absence on Sunday at Auburn.
LSU is 6-1 in the seven games Gunter has missed while recovering from bronchitis and a viral illness.
The loss to Auburn prevented LSU from picking up Gunter’s 700th career victory. Even though she is not with the team, Gunter still gets credit for wins and losses. Associate coach Pokey Chatman said Gunter is not concerned with personal accolades.
“Honestly, she never talks about it,” Chatman said. “That’s just coach Gunter.”
Chatman said she does not know when Gunter will return to the bench for LSU.
Doneeka Hodges said the team is more concerned with Gunter returning to full health than returning to the sidelines.
“If that means she has to miss six, seven or eight more games, we know that she’s fighting to get back with us,” Hodges said. “We just always keep that in mind and hope that she gets well.”
Seimone Augustus at the free-throw line
With a 5-for-5 performance at the free-throw line against Auburn, sophomore Seimone Augustus extended her consecutive free throws-made streak to 38.
Augustus’ last miss came in the Southeastern Conference opener against Auburn on Jan. 11 in Baton Rouge.
LSU as a team makes 73 percent of its free-throw attempts. But Augustus is making 91 percent of her free throws on the season (57-of-65).
Augustus is even more impressive in conference play, making 38-of-39 free throws — including the 38 straight since missing her first attempt against Auburn — for 97 percent.
Chatman said she never expects Augustus to miss.
“When it comes to a player with her ability you know she can shoot 90-plus percent,” Chatman said. “It’s not a surprise, but it’s pretty impressive.”
Guard Scholanda Hoston said Augustus inspires her to try to get to the free-throw line more often.
“She just does not miss from the free-throw line,” Hoston said. “It motivates me to get in there and shoot more, because I need to get [my free-throw percentage] up.”
Hodges and Hoston hot from 3-point range
Despite the loss to Auburn, Hodges continued her streak of hot 3-point shooting.
Hodges scored 11 points in the contest, with nine of those points coming from behind the 3-point line on 3-of-6 shooting.
Hodges said she is not doing anything different now than at the beginning of the season — except the shots tend to go in more often now.
“It’s just working out OK for me right now,” Hodges said. “I’m just going to keep on playing and keep on focusing and do whatever it is I need to do to help this team win.”
Hodges said she still does not think she has had her best shooting performance yet this season.
Hoston set a career-high in points last Thursday against Alabama with 25 — all from the bench. Hodges also scored 25 points for the Lady Tigers against ‘Bama, going 6-of-8 from 3-point range.
In the 103-68 victory, Hoston nailed 4-of-6 from 3-point range to help LSU blow out the Crimson Tide.
Hoston said being able to make 3-point shots makes her a more versatile player.
“I worked on shooting the three a lot,” Hoston said. “I just felt like it would help my team a lot if I added that to my game.”
Crowded at the top
LSU fell into a tie for second place in the SEC with the loss to Auburn.
The Lady Tigers are tied with Florida at 6-2 in SEC play. LSU defeated Florida earlier this season 74-59 in Baton Rouge. The second-place teams meet again next Sunday at Florida.
LSU and Florida are two games behind 8-0 Tennessee.
Chatman said the parity in the league — with teams such as Florida and Ole Miss being near the top after being bottom feeders last season — makes coaching in the SEC exciting.
“One game is not going to make the SEC season,” Chatman said. “The best thing you can do is take care of your home court, and then take care of business when you go on the road.”
With LSU being relatively healthy, Hoston said the depth of the bench should make the difference down the stretch run in the SEC.
“Having more healthy people right now is nothing but a bonus,” Hoston said. “We have more people who can come in and give people that are out there a breather, and bring some positive things out there.”