The LSU women’s basketball team looks to snap a three-game losing streak when Arkansas rolls into the PMAC tonight at 7 p.m.
As they prepare to host a Razorback squad fresh off back-to-back wins against ranked opponents, the Lady Tigers (7-11, 1-4 SEC) will battle a familiar foe: injuries.
“It feels like a roller coaster ride,” said LSU coach Nikki Fargas. “Sometimes when we feel like we are moving forward, adversity hits us. This team shows a lot of perseverance. Not everybody is 100 percent healthy. It is what it is.”
Without its top perimeter shooter, LSU has struggled offensively in the past two conference games, averaging just 43.5 points per game in its losses against Vanderbilt on Jan. 14 and Florida on Jan. 17.
Before being sidelined with an illness, sophomore guard Jenna Deemer led the Lady Tigers with 28 three-pointers made this season while averaging a team-high 4.5 three-point attempts per game. In her absence, the Lady Tigers have converted only 1-of-8 attempts from deep range.
“We need to score the basketball,” Fargas said. “We need to be creative in our ability to put points on the board. When you are only playing with seven players, nobody can have an off night shooting. We have to be very diligent in our execution on the offensive end.”
Although Arkansas (8-10, 3-2 SEC) has yet to record a win away from home, the Razorbacks enter the contest with one of the conference’s leading scorers in junior forward Jessica Jackson.
Jackson tallied 25 points in the Razorbacks win against then-No. 13 Tennessee on Jan. 14 and 15 points against then-No. 20 Missouri on Jan. 17.
Along with averaging 17.4 points per game, Jackson contributes 6.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.
“Jessica Jackson is a big challenge,” Fargas said. “She is not only scoring, but she is rebounding and pushing tempo. We have to be aware of her at all times.”
Along with shutting down Jackson, LSU will look to finish the game strong, something it has struggled with all season.
Against Florida, the Lady Tigers went into the final quarter with a five-point-lead, yet gave up 20 points in the fourth to lose the game, 53-47.
“We wanted to take the Florida game and build off of it,” Fargas said. “Although the score wasn’t what we wanted it to be, we were able to put together 35 minutes of good basketball. Now we need a total of 40.”