For LSU senior guards Katherine Graham and Latear Eason, it hasn’t sunk in that they will take the PMAC court for the final time in their careers tonight.
 
The Lady Tigers square off in a must-win game against South Carolina at 7 p.m. on Senior Night in which Graham, Eason and forward Jasmine Nelson will be honored. In the teams’ first game Jan. 6 in Columbia, S.C., LSU squandered an 18-point lead and lost.
 
The Gamecocks won, 63-61, indicative of the Lady Tigers’ repeated scoring inconsistency.
 
Graham has started all 28 games this season, extending her streak to 68 straight starts. She is also one of two players in program history with a triple-double and the only LSU player with a triple-double in Southeastern Conference play against Ole Miss on Feb. 7, 2010.
 
This year, Graham is No. 11 in the SEC in assists with 3.2 per game and No. 7 in free throws at 69.2 percent. She is shooting 44 percent from the field and averaging 8.8 points.
 
Graham didn’t say much about her senior season winding down. Instead, she said the Lady Tigers (17-11, 7-7) are only focused on South Carolina.
 
The Gamecocks (16-11, 8-6) are in fifth place in the SEC, one game ahead of LSU, and both teams have one regular-season game remaining after tonight’s matchup.
 
“[South Carolina] pressures you with the ball with full-court pressure. They’re a great defensive team,” Graham said. “We know we have to come out and not turn the ball over because that’s one reason why we gave up such a big lead and why we’ve struggled offensively as of late.”
 
Eason has had her share of injury obstacles to overcome in her LSU career, suffering a torn ACL as a freshman and a broken collarbone in the 2009 NCAA Tournament. She re-aggravated the collarbone as a junior, and most recently, she suffered a concussion in the first South Carolina game this year.
 
Eason missed three games recovering from the concussion but has started all 25 games in which she has played so far. She has 63 career starts and averages four points and 2.2 assists per game as a senior.
 
Eason showed similar emotions as Graham about Senior Night tonight.
 
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Eason said. “We just need to get it together. Everybody needs to be on the same page heading into the next two games and the SEC tournament. It will help us a lot if we know what our roles are.”
 
Freshman guard Jeanne Kenney said the seniors have meant a lot to her too, as they’ve mentored her in her first season. Kenney said they helped make the team feel like a family atmosphere right off the bat, something she craved to start college.
 
“They took me in under their wing,” Kenney said. “You don’t see that a lot from seniors to freshmen because you only have one year with them. As a guard I look up to [Graham] a lot because when we split up guards and posts, she’s helped me a lot with being smart and defensive instruction. She’s really been a great guide to me.”
 
LSU coach Van Chancellor said he has valued Graham and Eason’s leadership on the court in his tenure.
 
“When I came here in 2007, they were the two players it would have been devastating if they had left,” Chancellor said. “I hope we can go out a winner with the three [seniors]. They deserve it.”
Follow Rachel Whittaker on Twitter @TDR_whittaker.
 
 
 
 
—————
Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]