Senior guard DaShawn Harden finds a hole in defense on the left wing and calls for the pass. Seconds later, the PMAC erupts as Harden nails the wide-open 3-pointer.
Senior forward Sheila Boykin catches a pass in the paint, turns on a defender and makes the layup, silencing the crowd on the road.
Harden and Boykin are opposites on and off the court and have taken different roads to their senior seasons, but both emerged as leaders and sparks for the LSU women’s basketball team.
“I’ve seen [their leadership] in different scenarios and situations that they’ve been put in,” said LSU coach Nikki Caldwell. “You can recognize it in practices when they are calling their own team huddles [and] when they’re over on the sideline and one group is playing and the other group is over there communicating with each other.”
Boykin entered the season as the lone fourth-year senior on the roster and has become the Lady Tigers’ vocal leader on the court after the departure of former LSU forward Theresa Plaisance and guard Jeanne Kenney.
Boykin said she knew needed to take on a bigger leadership role within the team this season, instead of relying on others to lead vocally.
On the court, Boykin fires up her teammates and the crowd with her defensive intensity and effort on offense.
Boykin’s energy is clear on the court as she yells encouragement to her teammates after big plays.
“It’s always been a thing of mine to do,” Boykin said. “Anything, whether I score or take a charge or [make] a steal, you have to capitalize on every good thing that we do. Whatever can get the fans rowdy and the bench rowdy, I’ve got to do it.”
Boykin has been a defensive force for the majority of her LSU career, but Boykin has developed into a consistent offensive threat in her senior season.
Entering her senior season, Boykin averaged only 1.8 points per game in an average of 11.3 minutes per game. Through the Lady Tigers’ first half of the season, Boykin has averaged 7.6 points per game in 24.3 minutes per game.
Boykin’s dramatic improvement offensively is due to her improving health.
On Feb. 22, 2013, Boykin was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system attacks its own nervous system.
“Sheila’s still not 100 percent, but you would never know that because she plays every possession, comes to practice and just works extremely hard,” Caldwell said. “It’s amazing to see where she was less than two years ago — not able to walk, couldn’t stand and would fall —and to see her today competing at this level. It’s like a miracle, and we feed off that.”
Boykin’s improvement on offense has provided a consistent scorer, but Harden’s team leading 26 three-pointers spark the Lady Tigers’ offense from behind the arch.
Coming into her senior season, Harden is only in her second year with the program after transferring to LSU in April 2013 from Johnson Community College.
While Boykin leads vocally, Harden leads by example, which fits her more reserved personality.
“It’s so funny because everyone thinks that a leader has to be someone who speaks all the time more than they do, but a leader can either lead by example or lead vocally,” Boykin said. “DaShawn is the person who leads by example, but when she speaks everyone has to listen because, ‘Oh snap, DaShawn is speaking,’ and she never really does that.”
You can reach Morgan Prewitt on Twitter @kmprewitt_TDR.