The LSU women’s basketball season opener has a unique feel to it this year.
It’s the first time in program history the Lady Tigers will face a team from the Big Ten conference to begin a season, as LSU will travel to Northwestern on Sunday for a 2 p.m. contest.
LSU has won nine of its past 10 season-opening games and is 30-5 all time in openers.
Assistant coach Travis Mays said the challenge against Northwestern will be to overcome the road environment and start fast against the Wildcats and senior center Amy Jaeschke, who has led Northwestern in scoring and rebounding for the past three seasons.
“What we’ve been stressing against a team like Northwestern is to make sure we box out and rebound … and find the shooters because they have very good shooters,” Mays said. “They have something in their five-player that we don’t play against a lot. They have a five-player who can step out on the perimeter and shoot the basketball.”
LSU junior forward LaSondra Barrett, who is on the Naismith Trophy watch list along with Jaeschke, said the 6-foot-5-inch post player’s size and strength present a threat.
Jaeschke is No. 7 in Big Ten history with 253 career blocks and averaged 16.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game as a junior last season.
“[Northwestern] reminds us of a team like Vanderbilt or Middle Tennessee where we have to stretch our defense out,” Barrett said. “[Jaeschke] is a big, strong and mobile post player. Not that many people are like she is. … Right now we’ve been working on not getting sealed up.”
The Lady Tigers lost three Southeastern Conference games in overtime in the 2009-10 season and were eliminated in the SEC tournament in a 63-61 loss to Vanderbilt. Mays said the team has been working at the end of every practice to increase its mental toughness as games wind down.
“We try to end practice on a defensive note, end on special situations to make sure our girls have to think at the end of the game,” Mays said. “We don’t do those situations until the end of practice when they’re fatigued and mentally about to check out. … We have a more athletic team, a quicker team and a stronger team. The worst we can have is a weaker mental team.”
In LSU’s exhibition game Monday against Delta State, the Lady Tigers shot a meager 33 percent from the floor in the first half. In the second half, they raised their shooting percentage to 40.3 percent for the game.
Freshman guard Jeanne Kenney said the exhibition game was eye-opening with the regular season on the horizon. She started 0-of-7 from the field in the game and finished 2-of-10 with six points in 16 minutes.
“The exhibition is a great idea by the coaches to get the pregame jitters out,” Kenney said. “If your shot isn’t falling, you have to find other ways to score and keep attacking to the goal.”
Barrett said playing on the road against Northwestern will make it additionally challenging for LSU to secure a convincing win.
“We have to prove ourselves. Not many people think LSU is one of the top programs,” Barrett said. “We have to prove those doubters wrong and come in and make a statement. The jitters are gone because this game is a statement game.”
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