The LSU women’s basketball team kept a furious pace in its 98-78 win against Georgia Tech Sunday, recording 57 rebounds and shooting 50 percent.
Senior guard Jeanne Kenney admitted the victory was probably the first time the team has stuck to its game plan for the entire game.
The question now is whether the Lady Tigers will revert to their old ways or have the drive to put everything together and make the performance a trend.
“I think there’s a big difference when you’re hungry versus starving,” said coach Nikki Caldwell on Monday. “I hope we’re starving for it and that the team that wants it the most will come up with the victory tomorrow.”
LSU (20-12, 7-9 Southeastern Conference) will fight to keep its season alive when it plays No. 2 seed West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA tournament tonight in the PMAC. LSU will be looking to make its second consecutive Sweet 16 appearance since 2008.
West Virginia (30-4, 16-2 Big 12) is wrapping up one of its most successful seasons, which included a share of the Big 12 regular season title and its highest seeding in the tournament in school history. The team has seen a 13-win improvement from last season after losing only one senior in the offseason.
The Mountaineers are led by a three-pronged attack featuring center Asya Bussie and guards Bria Holmes and Christal Caldwell. Holmes and Bussie have led the team for the season in points and rebounds respectively, while Christal Caldwell tallied 26 points and five rebounds in West Virginia’s first round win against Albany.
In their win, the Mountaineers benefitted from 11 first half Great Danes turnovers, leading to a 42-25 advantage at halftime. But a furious comeback in the second frame cut the lead to five, and Nikki Caldwell said she saw things in the run that can help LSU.
“[Albany] picked up their pressure defensively and really tried to disrupt West Virginia,” Nikki Caldwell said. “They trapped a little bit more, which I thought that gave West Virginia a challenge at times.”
The Lady Tigers’ first round triumph confused players who have followed them all season. LSU outrebounded the Yellow Jackets by 27 and took 70 shot attempts, seven more than the team had taken in any of its past six games.
The offense also relied less on stars such as Kenney and senior forward Theresa Plaisance, instead counting on a more balanced attack. Junior forward DaShawn Harden reached 17 points for the first time since early January, and four other Lady Tigers scored in double digits.
Harden said Sunday’s game was the way LSU should have been playing all year, and it was a matter of everyone showing up.
One of the key parts to LSU’s win was freshman guard Raigyne Moncrief, who injured her leg in the second half and went to the locker room immediately. After meeting with doctors Monday, the team announced she would be a game-time decision.
Of course, the game also marks the last time seniors Plaisance, Kenney and Shanece McKinney will play at the PMAC.
It’s difficult for Plaisance to realize her time at LSU is reaching its conclusion, and she hopes she can delay that conclusion by at least one more week.
“LSU means the world to me, and this is a place that I wish I could stay forever,” Plaisance said. “You know, it’s pulling at my heart that one day I’m going to have to hang up my jersey, and I’m going to do whatever I can to prolong that.”