The LSU women’s basketball team doesn’t have much room for error.”When you’re where we are, all games are big games,” coach Van Chancellor said of the Lady Tigers’ six final regular-season contests.LSU (15-7, 4-6) has not exactly been on a roll lately, losing six of its past eight games — including two straight in overtime — and dropping four spots to No. 23 in the nation this week.The Lady Tigers will have a chance to ease their recent woes in a road contest against Florida (13-10, 6-4) tonight at 6 p.m. at the O’Connell Center.The team’s issues that need correcting start with grasping game plans in practice, Chancellor said.”We really struggled to take a plan of attack both offensively and defensively from the practice floor to the game floor,” he said. “We just have to get in a close game and get the job done. We’ve lost three overtime games — if we win those, we’d be fine.”LSU has defeated Florida three straight times and in nine of the past 10 games, but Chancellor said facing Florida on the road will be a challenge.”Florida has done a great job of running their offense and utilizing their talent,” he said. “They are a reflection of their coach — scrappy and tough. Tennessee beat them on a last-second shot, and they beat Ole Miss in Oxford — a team that beat us twice.”Florida is also coming off an overtime game Sunday, an 80-78 win at home against Mississippi State that took two extra periods.Women’s basketball analyst Chantelle Anderson said being on the court for more than two halves brings challenges besides maintaining physical strength.”Being in one of those games makes you feel more alive than ever,” Anderson said. “Three overtimes sounds tiring, but as athletes, we’re taught to ignore the feelings of our bodies and keep working. We train ourselves not to quit.”LSU sophomore guard Destini Hughes, who is set to make her second straight start and fourth of the season tonight, said one aspect that cost LSU the triple-overtime game was a failure to pick up offensive rebounds.”Against Ole Miss, they got a lot of loose balls, and that was a key to us losing the game,” Hughes said. “When we go to Florida, we want to make sure we not only box out but go get the rebounds. We’ve been struggling with that, but we’ll get there.”Hughes scored eight points and converted a game-tying jump shot with 0.4 seconds remaining in the first overtime Sunday. She said Chancellor told her to not shy away from attempting to score during the game.”Coach told us before the game that if we feel like we can make it, then just shoot it,” Hughes said. “I didn’t really force anything. It just kind of came, like when [senior guard] Allison [Hightower] passed me the ball because she thought I could make it.”Anderson said the support of teammates in taxing games is what propels a team to finish strong.”The sense of camaraderie in those games is higher than ever — it’s ridiculous,” Anderson said. “You can’t let your teammates down because you’ve worked too hard to give up on any one play.”Hightower, a candidate for the 2010 National Player of the Year, missed the entire third overtime Sunday with leg cramping. Chancellor said Hightower was “fine” in practice this week and is expected to start tonight.The play of Hughes and freshman guard Bianca Lutley was encouraging in Hightower’s absence, Chancellor said.”[Hughes] is playing great defense and doing everything we want,” Chancellor said. “Bianca has given us a spark and can make plays. We just have to find somebody she can defend.”Hughes said the team feels a sense of urgency to “pick it up” in the games they have left.”Our attitude is we’re going to win the next six games,” Hughes said. “We’re looking to turn our season around.”—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]