The LSU women’s basketball team will look to earn the program’s first Southeastern Conference regular season title when the Lady Tigers take on Arkansas tonight at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.
After defeating Arkansas (15-10, 3-9 SEC) 91-45 last month, coach Pokey Chatman said her team is mature enough in realizing the importance of the game.
“Thank goodness with this team we don’t have to plant any of those seeds,” Chatman said. “They understand that it’s the next conference opponent, and they understand there are things we need to clean up since our last opponent.”
The Lady Tigers are coming off a close victory last Sunday, pulling away from Auburn 62-57 to earn their best conference start in school history.
LSU (25-1, 12-0 SEC) has earned 12 straight victories since a Jan. 5 loss at Rutgers.
The team is led by junior Seimone Augustus, who averages 20.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Augustus will look to earn her 53rd straight double-digit scoring game
LSU’s 91-45 victory over Arkansas last month marked the largest margin of victory over a SEC opponent, breaking the 2003 record when LSU defeated Kentucky by 43.
Despite the blowout victory, Chatman said the team cannot expect a similar outcome.
“We have to mix in how Arkansas has evolved as a team since they left this place weeks ago,” Chatman said. “But more importantly, to look at their last outing against Tennessee.”
After trailing Tennessee 61-44 at halftime last Sunday, Arkansas cut the lead to 63-55 with just under eight minutes to play but failed to capitalize as the Lady Vols pulled away 84-71.
Sarah Pfeifer leads the Lady Backs into tonight’s game, averaging 11.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Pfeifer put up 17 points in last weekend’s loss to Tennessee.
While LSU leads the series against Arkansas 16-9, Arkansas has an advantage at home. The Lady Backs are 6-5 against LSU in Fayetteville.
In addition, Arkansas will be celebrating Senior Night on Sunday, honoring seniors April Seggebruch and Allison Singleton.
“For us, it’s not that difficult because we’ve always had battles at Arkansas,” Chatman said. “Regardless of records, rankings or TV, it’s a tough place to play.”
Despite sitting in the 10th spot in the conference standings, Arkansas still boasts strong defensive statistics, ranking No. 1 in steals with 13.96 and forces 6.43 more turnovers then they allow per game.
“When they came here, our kids did a great job of taking over their strengths and neutralizing it,” Chatman said. “We’ll take the same mindset into Arkansas.”
Arkansas totaled just 10 steals and committed 21 turnovers to LSU’s 16.
“So much of it focuses on what we need to do,” Chatman said. “And if you take care of that, it will go a long ways in neutralizing Arkansas.”