BATON ROUGE — The Lady Tiger basketball team will host No. 9 South Carolina on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Lady Tigers (13-9, 6-5 SEC) are coming off disappointing losses to Arkansas and Vanderbilt on the road and will look to rebound against the Lady Gamecocks (21-3, 9-2), which have won four straight. The game will be broadcast on a tape delayed basis by the Pelican Sports Network.
“We are at a critical point in the season and every game is very important,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “We need to pick up a few more wins in our last three regular season games before we head into the SEC Tournament to improve our chances at getting an NCAA Tournament bid.
“South Carolina has one of their best teams ever this year,” Gunter continued. “They have lost only three games and are still in the hunt for the SEC title so we know that we will come in here ready to play. We will have stay focused and stick to our game plan to beat them.”
LSU has won four straight over the Lady Gamecocks and has won the last four contests in Baton Rouge, last falling to South Carolina at home in during the 1993-94 season. Last season, LSU defeated South Carolina, 83-73, in Columbia, S.C.
Junior Aiysha Smith, who leads the Lady Tigers in scoring and rebounding, tied her career high with 23 points against Vanderbilt her last game. She is averaging 17.6 points and 8.6 rebounds in SEC games. Doneeka Hodges, Scholanda Dorrell and Ke-Ke Tardy are also averaging in double-figures scoring in conference games.
Sophomore Temeka Johnson leads the league in assists in SEC games with 8.4 assists per game. In 16 games this season, she has recorded four of the top six single-game assist marks in school history.
LSU is currently in sixth place in the SEC standings but is just one game out of fourth place with three games remaining. The top four teams receive a bye in the first round of the conference tournament that begins on Feb. 28 in Nashville, Tenn.