LSU women’s basketball assistant coach Bob Starkey asked the team Thursday, after they gave up a second-chance basket during practice, how many times the Lady Tigers have outrebounded Vanderbilt in the past 10 seasons.
The team responded in unison, “Once.”
The No. 4 Lady Tigers (16-1, 5-0) will attempt to put an end to the rebounding-deficit streak while extending their home-court winning streak to 26 games against No. 22 Vanderbilt tonight at 8 p.m. in the PMAC.
Coming off a 65-64 victory in Georgia on Sunday, coach Pokey Chatman said she wants her team to continue its consistent execution.
“We set 101 screens in that Georgia game, and 100 of them were good screens,” Chatman said. “And if you’re going to screen that way, that much and that effectively, good things will happen.”
As for the Commodores (13-6, 2-3), Chatman said they run an effective transition offense that begins with Vanderbilt’s junior point guard Dee Davis, who leads the Southeastern Conference with 7.1 assists per game.
“[Their transition offense] starts with their point guard play,” Chatman said. “Dee Davis does a good job of managing her basketball team. She has the ability to penetrate; she can shoot from NBA range and [has] a quick release.”
LSU sophomore center Sylvia Fowles will have her hands full tonight with Vanderbilt sophomore center Liz Sherwood, who has averaged 13.7 points per contest and is second in the nation by shooting 67.6 percent per game.
Fowles said she plans to play the same defense against Sherwood she has the entire season.
“I’m just going to go out there and do what I’ve been doing,” Fowles said. “We haven’t changed anything. We’re just going to play our base defense.”
Chatman said Fowles should have a speed advantage against Sherwood.
“[Fowles’] advantage is maybe she has some speed and quickness, but [Sherwood] will make Sylvia defend her mentally, not just physically,” Chatman said. “She is not going to catch and just try to shoot it quick over Sylvia’s out-stretched hands.”
Offensively, the Lady Tigers must deal with the Commodores’ match-up zone defense.
“The best thing against a match-up zone is for us to move that zone, and that’s with some ball reversal, some penetration in the gaps and just attacking the paint,” Chatman said.
Senior forward Seimone Augustus, who nailed the game-winning shot with 14 seconds left in the Georgia game, said the Lady Tigers run a good zone offense to counter Vanderbilt’s zone defense.
“Their match-up [zone defense] is great. The only thing we can do is what we normally do,” Augustus said. “That is get out and run and get some easy buckets and try to get our post players to run the floor and get some touches for them.”
At the point guard position, sophomore guard Erica White is scheduled to continue her stint as the Lady Tigers’ starter.
Chatman said there is not a timetable for sophomore guard RaShonta LeBlanc’s return. LeBlanc sprained her ankle in a practice before the Jan. 19 game against Alabama.
“It’s just a matter of RaShonta getting as close to 100 percent as possible,” Chatman said. “It’s a matter of how she responds to rehab.”
Chatman said she was impressed with White’s play against Georgia when she dealt a career-high 10 assists.
“[White’s play] was exceptional for a number of reasons,” Chatman said. “I thought she did an excellent job of controlling tempo and not trying to do too much. I tell her all the time when [the team] leaves the huddle and gets onto the court, ‘It’s no longer my team, it’s your team.’ Erica is only going to get better.”
 
Contact Kyle Whitfield at [email protected]