STARKVILLE, Miss. – The LSU women’s basketball team will square off with another ranked opponent on the road as the Lady Tigers meet No. 15 Mississippi State on Thursday evening.
Tipoff is on-tap for 7 p.m. CT from Humphrey Coliseum, and the game will be carried online only by SEC Network Plus courtesy of www.WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.
The LSU Sports Network will broadcast the game on its flagship station Talk 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge. Patrick Wright, the voice of the Lady Tigers, will call the action. The broadcast also will be available for Geaux Zone subscribers at www.LSUsports.net/live.
LSU (8-8, 2-2 SEC) and Mississippi State (18-1, 3-1 SEC) are looking to return to the win column. The Lady Tigers dropped a 55-48 decision at No. 9 Texas A&M, while the Bulldogs were handed a 78-62 loss at Vanderbilt during Sunday’s action. LSU holds a 46-6 series advantage and has won eight straight meetings over Mississippi State dating back to the 2008-09 season.
The Bulldogs are led by Victoria Vivians and Morgan William, a pair of freshmen. Vivians has garnered 15.3 points per game which rank third on the SEC leaderboard and has knocked down 36 three-pointers. William has secured 10.2 points and 3.8 assists per game. The 10.2 points per game for William are third among SEC freshmen.
On the interior, Breanna Richardson has tallied 8.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game followed by Martha Alwal’s 7.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. The 18-game winning streak to the start the season for the Bulldogs was a program record.
“I think Mississippi State is a hardnosed, defensive team,” head coach Nikki Caldwell said. “I think they are a team that has really adopted his (Vic Shaefer) style of play. He likes that get after you, one pass away, deny the basketball and eliminate easy cuts to the ball. I think defensively, they’ve become a very good team and buying into his system. Offensively, you have to make sure that we are aware of their guard play. (Victoria) Vivians can shoot the basketball from anywhere she touches it. Our awareness of where she is has got to be, you can’t lose sight of her because her range is out there. We are really going to have to focus in on not allowing her to go off because she is very capable. Then, really disrupting their guard play and not over extending on many people. I think this is a game that is going to come down to which team is going to execute their game plan on the defensive end, who is going to take care of the basketball and give yourself an opportunity to score.”
LSU’s post play is led by Akilah Bethel and Sheila Boykin who are coming off an 8-for-12 shooting effort at Texas A&M. For the season, the Bethel-Boykin duo has averaged a combined 14.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. Bethel amassed her first career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds against the Aggies, while Boykin has connected on 61.9 percent of her shots over her last seven outings.
DaShawn Harden continues to be LSU’s top scorer with 11.9 points and 2.4 steals per game. She has upped her average to 13.5 points per game, good enough for 10th place in conference games.
Raigyne Moncrief has chipped in 10.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.4 steals per game. Along with Harden, Moncrief has reached double figures a team-leading nine times this season.
Off the bench, Jenna Deemer has picked up 6.7 points per game and has reached double figures in four of her last seven outings. She has teamed with Harden to provide 46 of LSU’s 55 field goals from beyond the three-point arc.
Danielle Ballard, an All-SEC Preseason First-Team pick, made her season debut during last week’s action. She came away with 4.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game over 16.5 minutes per game.
Anne Pedersen has improved her scoring average to 7.0 points per game in SEC play. She has returned to LSU’s starting lineup during the last two games and has started 12 of 16 games this season.
The Lady Tigers are in the midst of playing four consecutive Top 25 opponents during SEC play for the first time since the 1998-99 season. LSU returns home to take on No. 10 Kentucky at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at the Maravich Center.
“What we did was we came back, and we watched every defensive possession in the (Texas A&M) game. I wanted them to see that there were two teams that performed Sunday,” Caldwell said. “There was a team that held a very good Texas A&M team, when you look at (Courtney) Williams, (Courtney) Walker and (Jordan) Jones and what they are capable of, to 18 points. Then, there was the team that allowed 37 points in a half. Which one are we? Who do you want to become? If you stay this one that played the first half and you stay relentless with your effort and extra hustle plays, that’s how we won in the first half. They then, picked up their defensive intensity. They basically took our game plan, applied it and were able to be successful. I hope we can build on the 20 minutes we played and say we are good when we play this way. I hope when the other team rears its head—the team that gave up 37 points—that you remember how it felt losing against A&M and that you don’t want to have that happen again and that you will change it.”
For all of the latest news and information on Lady Tiger basketball, visit www.LSUsports.net/womensbasketball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/LSUwbkb, @lsuwbkb and @NikkiCaldwell on Twitter, @LSUwbkb and @LSUNikkiCaldwell on Instagram.