BATON ROUGE — The Lady Tiger basketball team will host Auburn on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for Law Enforcement Appreciation Night.
Law enforcement officers from Baton Rouge and surrounding areas are invited to attend the game and can bring along up to five additional guests free of charge. To gain entrance to the event, all the officer must do is show his or her law enforcement identification card at the gate.
LSU (12-7, 5-2 SEC) defeated Ole Miss on Sunday, 81-70, at home to take the two-game series from the Lady Rebels and improve to fifth place in the SEC standings.
Auburn (14-8, 2-7 SEC) lost to Mississippi State at home last Sunday and has now lost four straight since losing leading scorer Tia Miller with a torn ACL. After winning 11 straight to open the season, the Tigers have lost eight of their last 11 games.
“We have reached a point in the season when all of our games become critical,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. ” It is absolutely crucial for us to be prepared and stay focused for this game. This is also a critical game for Auburn because they come in here on a losing streak and believe that they can break that streak here. We have to handle our business at home and put this game away before we head to Arkansas this weekend.”
Junior Aiysha Smith continues to lead the Lady Tiger assault. She leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 15.5 points a game and 7.5 rebounds a game and had a career-high 23 points against Ole Miss. The center also leads the team in steals and field-goal percentage.
Sophomore Temeka Johnson leads the SEC in assists in league play since taking over at the point after Kisha James went down with an injury midway through the season. Sophomore twins Doneeka and Roneeka Hodges also continue to add consistent efforts with double-figure scoring averages and over four rebounds a game each.
Junior Patty Hanten will once again be unavailable for action. She sustained a broken nose in practice last Tuesday and did not dress out against Ole Miss last Sunday. She is questionable for Sunday’s game against Arkansas.
LSU next travels to Fayetteville, Ark., to face Arkansas on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Lady Tigers defeated the Lady’Backs, 65-55, in Baton Rouge in January.