LSU women’s basketball opens up the 2016-17 season against Louisiana Tech in Ruston tonight, looking to push its winning streak against Louisiana Tech (0-0, 0-0 Conference USA) to 11.
The Tigers will seek to end their two-year opening game losing streak.
LSU will have its work cut out for it with seven new players on the roster, including five freshmen.
“When you look at our roster, we are young in the sense that we have seven players who did not play last year, and to test them early is what you want,” LSU coach Nikki Vargas said in a news release Thursday. “You want to see how we handle going into a place that we are unfamiliar with, that we are not going to have home crowd advantage. There are going to be certain things stacked against us, so to me that is really going to test who we are early.”
The Tigers will get two players back after recuperating from injuries last season: junior Raigyne Moncrief and freshman Ayana Mitchell.
“Raigyne Moncrief is going to give us explosiveness with and without the basketball,” Fargas said. “She is one of our best on-the-ball defenders and rebounders. She and Ayana are going to add not only points to our offensive scheme, but they are also going to help keep points off the other side too.”
The Tigers will also attempt to continue the offensive success they displayed in their exhibition game against LeMoyne-Owen College after scoring over 80 points, a feat they achieved twice in 31 games last season.
The Tigers may need that type of offense against Louisiana Tech, a team that consistently score between 70-80 points and once posted 100 points against Mississippi College last season.
“La Tech is a team that is explosive, and with their transition game they are able to get out quickly,” the coach said. “They are going to look to try and turn us over and force those opportunities. Their guard play is very good. We are going to have to be aware of everybody who is at least one pass away. We are going to have to play our defense strong.”