The LSU women’s basketball team will look to earn its seventh straight victory tonight when the Lady Tigers take on Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss.
LSU (19-1, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) is coming off a close 57-52 win last Sunday at home against Auburn.
Coach Pokey Chatman said LSU will need to control Ole Miss’ crowd as Auburn did at LSU.
“Auburn, for the most part, controlled our crowd,” Chatman said. “If you have the energy and can execute, you can somewhat control it.”
Junior Seimone Augustus, who leads the team with 20.2 points a game, said the key to tonight’s game will be preparation.
“We need to be emotionally ready,” Augustus said. “We didn’t come out [against Auburn] as good as we wanted to.”
Chatman said a lack of focus is what hurt the team last Sunday.
“I don’t think we were mentally as focused on our half-court offense,” Chatman said. “Auburn played a big part in it, but we also contributed to it by not sticking to our offense scheme.”
After the team scored just 57 points last Sunday, guard Scholanda Hoston said running a smooth offense will be important.
“We want to work on spacing our offense,” Hoston said. “We just have to make sure we run our offense like we can and like we’ve been doing all season.”
The Lady Tigers currently are ranked No. 4 in the conference in points per game with a 72.0 average.
Ole Miss (15-5, 5-2 SEC) is coming off its fourth straight win following a 75-52 victory over Arkansas last Sunday.
Sitting comfortably in third place behind LSU and Tennessee in the SEC standings, Chatman said Ole Miss has established themselves as a strong team.
“They’re excellent in transition,” Chatman said. “And what makes them so difficult to defend is that they crash the boards so well.”
The Lady Rebels currently rank No. 1 in rebounding offense (31.0) and rebounding margin (+7.9) in SEC play.
Ole Miss is led by sophomore guard Armintie Price, who averages 15.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.
While facing Ole Miss may prove difficult, Augustus said playing on the road will not be easy either.
“They already have a slight advantage as far as fans,” Augustus said. “It’ll be a good test.”
Coming off last Sunday’s close victory, guard Scholanda Hoston said the team has maintained a level head for the next game.
“Whenever you play a game, whether you win by 50 or five, you have to put that game out of your head and prepare for the next one,” Hoston said. “We’ve done a good job of putting past games to the side and preparing for the next.”
Much attention has also been made of LSU’s matchup with Tennessee next week, yet Chatman said her team has done a good job of remaining focused.
“It just comes with playing in the SEC,” Chatman said. “We’re not even halfway through our conference schedule. But elite kids at this level concentrate on the next game, so we’re just concentrating on Ole Miss.”
For Augustus as well, it is all about the game at hand.
“We need to be prepared before the jump ball,” Augustus said. “It’s just a matter of being mentally focused.”