For the first time since Seimone Augustus arrived on campus, the LSU women’s basketball team began a season without an unquestioned leader in the mold of Augustus, Sylvia Fowles or Allison Hightower.
LSU coach Van Chancellor cycled through all 13 current players Sunday in a season-opening loss at Northwestern, trying to find the right combination.
“Anytime you don’t know who your first team is, that means you ain’t got one,” Chancellor said. “We’re going to find us a first team here before long.”
Chancellor would do well to find that team sooner than later, as LSU (0-1) welcomes No. 7 Ohio State to the PMAC tonight.
The Buckeyes (2-0) will be without junior point guard Sammy Prahalis, who is serving the final game of a three-game suspension for an unspecified secondary NCAA violation. Her absence has done little to dispel Chancellor’s concerns about his team’s inadequacies.
“Their backup point guard, [Ohio State coach] Jim Foster told me she was the second-best point guard in the country, so who cares?” Chancellor said. “All you have to do on that team is throw the ball to the Big ‘Un and get out of the way.”
“Big ‘Un,” in this case, is Ohio State All-American senior forward Jantel Lavender. Lavender is averaging more than 30 points and 10 rebounds through two games, both of which came against NCAA tournament teams from last season.
“She’s like Coca-Cola,” Chancellor said. “She’s the real thing. This young lady will be the second pick in the WNBA draft. We’ve struggled with big kids. We’ve struggled since Sylvia [Fowles] left. There’s no sense in saying we haven’t because we have.”
Foster was similarly effusive when discussing Lavender, who was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday following her dominant weekend.
“She’s a big, strong post player with a good touch and good sense of how to play,” Foster said. “Her and [Ohio senior forward] Sarah Schulze, our two frontcourt players, have 21 assists in the two games we’ve played. So they’re helping with the ball movement with Prahalis not being here.”
Particularly worrisome for LSU are the struggles of junior forward LaSondra Barrett, whom many considered the heir apparent to Hightower as the team centerpiece.
Barrett, who will be called upon to help stop Lavender, was held to 3-of-14 shooting against Northwestern and 5-of-14 shooting in a preseason exhibition.
Slowing down Lavender remains the team’s top priority.
“We know she plays a lot of minutes, and we’re just going to try to run as much as we can because we have mobile post players,” Barrett said.
While this game is just the sixth time the two teams have faced off, Chancellor and Foster have a long history that dates back to the ’80s, when Chancellor coached Ole Miss and Foster was at Vanderbilt.
Foster holds a 5-3 edge in the head-to-head matchup against Chancellor and has gone 12-5 against LSU during the course of his career.
“Sue Gunter was a very good friend of mine, and Van Chancellor is a very good friend of mine,” Foster said. “Just coming into their gym is something I’ve always looked forward to.”
 
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Contact Ryan Ginn at [email protected]