While most students will spend Thanksgiving break eating turkey and watching football, the LSU women’s basketball team will head south of the border to compete in the Hardwood Tournament of Hope in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
The Lady Tigers (2-3) will start tournament play against Santa Clara (2-1) today at 2:30 p.m. in the Puerto Vallarta Convention Center and will look to finish November with a winning record after dropping two consecutive home games against Tulane and No. 22 Rutgers.
“We are playing in a great tournament with some competitives teams,” said LSU coach Nikki Caldwell. “We’re playing in a tournament that will give us a SEC feel in the sense of back-to-back-to-back games. We’re going to utilize this week to be better and also utilize this week to help us in March.”
LSU’s three games in the tournament will complete the Lady Tigers’ difficult opening stretch of eight games in 13 days.
The Lady Tigers have struggled to produce on the offensive end through the stretch, shooting a chilly 34.8 percent from the field this season.
LSU hopes the change of scenery will warm up its offense, but the Lady Tigers will be challenged by Santa Clara’s stifling defense, which is allowing opponents’ to shoot only 26.2 percent from the field this season.
“I want our percentages to go up, so we have to look at, ‘What’s our shot selection and who are we getting shots for?’” Caldwell said. “I think we’ve got to hone in on the players that are putting the ball in the hole and give them those looks right of the bat.”
Unfortunately for the Lady Tigers, no player has emerged as the consistent leading scorer. A different Lady Tiger has led LSU in scoring in every game.
The youth of the team has played into the scoring troubles as five new Lady Tigers adjust to their roles within the offensive scheme.
Junior guard Akilah Bethel leads the newcomers with 8.2 points per game and leads LSU shooting 54.8 percent from the floor.
Veteran players have stressed the importance of constant improvement during the tough early stretch.
“We have to keep moving,” said senior forward Sheila Boykin. “We are going to go back and watch film and see what our deficiencies are. We have to strive for daily improvement. We have no time to sit back and feel bad for ourselves because we have more games to play.”
Despite the offensive struggles, the Lady Tigers’ defense has held opponents to only 54.8 points per game.
LSU uses its full-court press to disrupt opponents’ offensive rhythm by creating turnovers. The Lady Tigers force an average of 22.2 turnovers per game, including 12.4 steals.
The Lady Tigers’ defense will be challenged throughout its trip as it faces three offenses that average more than 65 points per game and are shooting more than 40 percent from the field.
After facing Santa Clara today, the Lady Tigers will face UTEP at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and Kansas State at 5 p.m. Thursday.