After junior guard Raigyne Moncrief reinjured her knee, likely ending her season, senior forward Akilah Bethel was scared.
Her fear stemmed from LSU’s ability to dress out only eight players on Tuesday against Texas Southern University and in the Gulf Coast Showcase because of injuries.
Bethel, who’s started eight of the Lady Tigers (5-4, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) nine games this season, found herself in an unfamiliar place in the LSU lineup. With Moncrief out, Bethel has become a key piece to a successful season if she continues the hot streak she is now on.
Bethel said she was timid at first, but now she’s accepted her bigger role.
“At first it was scary because if you get into foul trouble or if you are tired, you have to be able to push through that threshold,” Bethel said. “It’s a mental thing. We have to tell ourselves and tell our teammates, ‘You’ve got this. Push through it.’ That is what is important for us.”
Bethel collected a sixth of the Lady Tigers’ rebounds thus far. She’s shooting 48 percent from the floor on 71 shot attempts, and leads the team with 19 steals.
Her defensive presence is key to developing an inexperienced Lady Tiger defense, said LSU coach Nikki Fargas.
“We need to play delay and disrupt type defensive pressure,” Fargas said. “Akilah Bethel started that up.”
The Lady Tigers allowed 36 points in its 50-point win on Tuesday against Texas Southern, a number Fargas approves of.
Fargas’ defensive ideology remains if the Lady Tigers keep their opponents under, or around, 40 points. The way to do that, Bethel said, is to be scrappier than ever in the midst of Moncrief’s absence.
“We have to be that scrappy team,” Bethel said. “We have to be able to grind. We all have to step up and be there for our teammates.”
Fargas said she continuously sees growth in the defense, and Bethel, as the season goes on.
Moncrief was LSU’s “go-to” player during late-game situations, but without her on the floor, sophomore guard Jenna Deemer, junior guard Rina Hill and Bethel had to assume the role.
“We’re gonna miss now having Moncrief on the floor,” Fargas said. “But Akilah Bethel had stepped up her game for us tremendously.”
The Lady Tigers are continuing to figure out how to play alongside each other without Moncrief in the lineup.
“There’s a growth to this team every single game,” Fargas said.