Despite starting off the year struggling in non-conference play, the LSU women’s basketball team rallied through its Southeastern Conference schedule to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season.  
The Lady Tigers (17-13, 10-6 SEC) earned the No. 11 seed in the Albany Region and will play No. 6 seed South Florida (26-7, 15-3 American) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Tampa Bay, Florida. 
If LSU beats South Florida, the Lady Tigers will face the winner of No. 3 seed Louisville and No. 14 seed BYU on Monday at the same location. 
“I’m excited to be playing a very good team in USF,” said LSU coach Nikki Caldwell in a news release. “They have tremendous play in the post and on the perimeter. This time of year, it is anybody’s game. I want us to make sure that we are sticking to our game plan, and we are going in there with great intensity and a lot of effort.”
LSU has reached the NCAA Tournament in all four seasons under Caldwell. The Lady Tigers will make the program’s 24th appearance in the Tournament after making back-to-back trips to the Sweet Sixteen. 
Despite Caldwell’s success at LSU, the Lady Tigers struggled through their non-conference schedule and posted the worst mark, 7-7, in four seasons. But LSU responded to the challenge of conference play by posting double-digit conference wins for the third season during Caldwell’s tenure. 
The return of junior guard Danielle Ballard from a 14-game suspension was the turning point for the Lady Tigers’ season. Without Ballard, LSU was .500 and struggling offensively. 
The Lady Tigers are 10-6 since Ballard’s return, including four wins against ranked opponents and top-50 RPI teams. 
In LSU’s wins against ranked teams, Ballard averaged 22.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting a 49.3 percent clip. She posted double-doubles against No. 12 Mississippi State on Jan. 15 and No. 21 Texas A&M on March 6.
But taking over in pressure situations is nothing new for Ballard. 
In the NCAA Tournament last season, Ballard put the team on her shoulders following season-ending injuries to then-freshman guard Raigyne Moncrief and former Lady Tiger guard Jeanne Kenney.
Ballard averaged 23.3 points and 14 rebounds in LSU’s three NCAA Tournament games against Georgia Tech, No. 7 West Virginia and No. 4
Louisville.
Despite Ballard’s knack for exploding in key games, LSU will have to shut down one of the most prolific scorers it has faced all season in South Florida’s junior guard Courtney Williams. 
Williams averages 20.2 points per game, which ranks 24th in the NCAA, and she leads the Bulls with 106 assists this season. Williams spearheads a South Florida offense that averages 71.8 points per game and shoots 42.5 percent from the floor. 
“That’s going to be a key matchup for us, taking away the leadership and the guard action that they present,” Caldwell said. “We are going to focus on our ability to defend and disrupt people.”
You can reach Morgan Prewitt on Twitter @kmprewitt_TDR.