The fourth-ranked LSU Lady Tigers put their seven-game winning streak on the line today against Ole Miss at 7 p.m. That streak includes six-consecutive wins in the Southeastern Conference.
The Lady Tigers lone loss this season came on the road against Arkansas on Jan. 19.
Ole Miss (12-11, 1-9 SEC) has lost four-straight games. They have lost nine straight in the SEC since defeating Florida in the conference opener. The Lady Rebels have not played since last week’s 67-60 loss to Vanderbilt.
The Lady Tigers will face sophomore center Amber Watts, who leads the Lady Rebels in both scoring and rebounding. She averages 12.2 points per game and collects an average of 8.6 rebounds per contest.
The Lady Tigers (22-1, 9-1 SEC) are 14-18 overall versus Ole Miss and only 6-10 at the Tad Smith Coliseum. Last week the Lady Tigers defeated the University of California, Santa Barbara, 94-90, in a game that needed three overtime periods to settle.
Freshman Seimone Augustus leads the Lady Tigers in scoring and will take her average of 15.5 points per game into Oxford, Miss. Center Aiysha Smith is second on the team in scoring, netting 12.5 points per contest and grabbing 5.7 rebounds per game.
“Ole Miss is a great team,” said Smith, who was named SEC Player of the Week this week after she scored a career-high 30 points against UCSB, also adding 11 rebounds in her 12th double-double of her career. “We’re going to their home court, so it’s going to be tough. We’ll have to be prepared.”
But the Lady Tigers have won the last five games against the Lady Rebels, including a 71-54 victory at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Jan. 12 this season.
After the Ole Miss game, the Lady Tigers have three regular season games remaining. Two of those games are at the PMAC, including a titanic matchup with the No. 3 Tennessee Lady Vols Sunday and a rematch with the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks Feb. 27.
LSU head coach Sue Gunter said keeping the team focused is a major priority right now, especially with No. 3 Tennessee coming to Baton Rouge on Sunday.
“We don’t talk about Tennessee,” Gunter said. “It doesn’t matter because if we don’t handle our business on Thursday night, then it really would minimize the importance of the game on Sunday.”
Smith, a senior, plays Ole Miss for the final time of her career and knows the dangers of playing on the road in Oxford.
“It’s the SEC,” Smith said. “Anything can happen. Anybody can upset anybody. Their record might not show it, but they’re a great team.”