The roller coaster that was the LSU women’s basketball team’s 2014-2015 season had its high and low points. The the final drop came in the form of a loss to the University of South Florida in the initial round of the NCAA Tournament.
The year started with a drop in the track and a paltry 7-7 record, a stretch mired by the mysterious suspension of star junior guard Danielle Ballard. After her return, LSU (17-14, 10-6 Southeastern Conference) hit its first hump and defeated two top-15 teams back-to-back, during which Ballard scored a combined 49 points.
The two-game stretch appeared to save LSU’s season and keep its goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament alive.
After upsetting No. 10 Kentucky on Jan. 15, LSU coach Nikki Caldwell said the addition of Ballard into the lineup gave LSU the shot in the arm it needed.
“Ballard is an All-American, she’s one of the best guards in the country,” Caldwell said. “She has the ability to make other people around here very good. When you are able to have a player like Ballard on the floor, it does give a confidence to your team because she does play with it.”
After a loss at No. 5 Tennessee one week later, the Lady Tigers went on their best stretch of the season and won four-straight contests against SEC opponents, their longest winning streak of the year.
The Lady Tigers hit their stride and seemed ready to take on No. 1 South Carolina, but they wound up losing to the Gamecocks by 24 points.
LSU rebounded against Georgia, which was struggling but still a top-25 team throughout most of the year. But the Lady Tigers dropped their next two games in a beatdown at Arkansas and to an inferior Ole Miss squad, which LSU pummeled by nearly 30 points earlier in the season.
Caldwell was particularly unhappy with the loss to the Rebels in a radio interview after the game.
“We’ve got to understand there’s a certain way you’ve got to play when you put that uniform on,” Caldwell said. “I felt we did a disservice to the uniform. We didn’t bring the same grind, the same hard work and the same work ethic that we’ve seen. We’ve got to get back to that.”
LSU closed out the regular season with a matchup against No. 12 Texas A&M, and it upset the Aggies to clinch the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament. The Lady Tigers defeated Texas A&M again to make it to the semifinals of the tournament, where they suffered a 20-point loss to South Carolina.
LSU entered the NCAA Tournament hoping to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the third-straight year, but USF derailed those plans with a 73-64 win. Though the roller coaster abruptly ended in the first round of the tournament, the Lady Tigers were proud of their accomplishments throughout the season.
“We weren’t expected to make the tournament or anything,” said senior guard DaShawn Harden. “As a competitor I expect to win. As a whole it was a pretty big accomplishment for us. We were picked to finish last in the SEC and we finished fourth. We made the NCAA Tournament and we weren’t expected to make it at all this year.”