The LSU women’s basketball team could not have more momentum headed into Thursday night’s senior-night matchup against Alabama (14-11, 5-9 SEC). The PMAC saw one of the most exciting games of the women’s basketball season Sunday afternoon, as the Tigers pulled off a critical, 66-61 win over a No. 15 ranked Florida team. While the team, the fans and the school were excited about the win, the Tigers put their heads down right away and put their focus toward their matchup with Alabama.
Alabama also has some momentum of its own headed into Thursday’s matchup. The Crimson Tide have won their last two games: a 10-point victory over a No. 16 ranked Tennessee tea, and a two-point overtime win over Texas A&M. The Crimson Tide, led by Brittany Davis who averages 16.9 points per game, is a motivated team, looking to keep their momentum going and sneak their way into the NCAA Tournament.
“[Curry’s] team is fighting to be maybe on that bubble, to be talked about to be that eighth, ninth team from our league to get a bid.” Coach Mulkey said leading up to their matchup with the Crimson Tide. “So if you talk about when is the best time to get hot and beat some people it’s now, and she’s done that.”
The Crimson Tide are a similar team to Arkansas, a team LSU lost to by 14 points, in that they take a great amount of perimeter shots.
“[Florida’s players] shoot a lot of three’s and she [Coach Kristy Curry] mixes her defenses up,” Coach Mulkey said, “she’ll play you some man and she’ll play you some zone. They’re going to push it, so we will be prepared.
“They’re [LSU] not going to come in here and beat them. It’s going to be a ball game, as all of them have been.”
While the Tigers struggled to shoot around the perimeter in their matchup with Florida, the team saw some improvements that will be useful in the postseason. Aside from the starting five players that have been reliable all season long, the bench players made an impact in the team’s win over Florida.
Hannah Gusters scored six crucial points in the third quarter of the Florida game, four of which gave the Tigers the lead and two of which extended the team’s lead. When the perimeter shots weren’t falling for the Tigers, Mulkey told Gusters and the other bigs to demand the ball in order to win the game near the rim.
“She [Gusters] wanted the ball against Florida, I challenged her and Faustine sitting on the bench over there,” Coach Mulkey said. “Our perimeter’s trying but they’re not hitting tonight, all we need from you guys are to demand the basketball and make us throw it in there to you. Hannah did, she finished, she got fouled, she didn’t make the free throw, but it was a sign of, ‘Coach, I listened to what you said.’”
Awa Trasi and Ryann Payne also made an impact. Trasi grabbed five key rebounds on defense for the Tigers against Florida.
“She [Awa] had valuable minutes the other night,” Mulkey said. “She got some big defensive rebounds for us.”
Payne has served as the “sparkplug” for the team all season long, and when the team needed to rally against the Gators, she was able to deliver once again.
“She’s [Ryann] instant offense, sometimes I tell her if you make a play or if you can’t make a play, shoot it, and I think she does,” Mulkey said. “She’s been a spark for us in a lot of games.”
While people marvel at the things this team has achieved in such a short amount of time, the book of this season is not even finished being written. Looking back on all the team has accomplished, it has already been better than what the team could have hoped for. The Tigers have been a Top-25 team all season long, most recently receiving their highest ranking of the season at No. 8. Despite the program seeing honors it has not seen in a long time, the team remains focused and in the moment.
“It starts with those seniors. They’ve been in college for a while,” Mulkey said. “They don’t get too high; they don’t get too low.”
The Tigers’ senior class went through a lot of adversity before Mulkey came into the program; the program has not been in the NCAA Tournament since the 2017-18 season. Only three current players played on that team: Khayla Pointer, Jailin Cherry and Faustine Aifuwa. To say that the seniors, especially these three, deserve a night to be honored for all that they have given to the program would be an understatement.
“You want them to have an unbelievable last year of college, every coach wants them to, and it doesn’t always work out that way,” Mulkey said. “But for anybody to leave this year no matter where we finish, how it all ends, there’s not a negative that can be written.”
LSU women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey speaks to graduate student guard Jailin Cherry (1) and graduate student guard Khayla Pointer (3) Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022, during LSU’s 66-61 win against Florida in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on North Stadium Drive in Baton Rouge, La.
