BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s basketball team returns to action after the first of its two SEC byes and meets Ole Miss on Thursday evening at the Maravich Center.
Tipoff is scheduled for 8:05 p.m., and the game will be televised by the SEC Network. The SEC Network telecast also will be available on http://www.watchespn.com/ and the Watch ESPN app. Pam Ward and Gail Goestenkors will serve as the announcing team.
The LSU Sports Radio Network will carry the game on its flagship station Talk 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge. The radio broadcast featuring Patrick Wright, the voice of the Lady Tigers, also will be available for Geaux Zone subscribers at www.LSUsports.net/live.
Tickets for Thursday’s game are on-sale at http://www.lsutix.net/ and can be purchased as low as $2 for general admission seating. Admission for LSU students and faculty/staff is free with a valid LSU ID card. The Maravich Center Box Office opens at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. The first 750 fans will receive 750 snapback hats as part of 90’s Throwback Thursday.
LSU (10-9, 4-3 SEC) and Ole Miss (14-6, 4-3 SEC) will look to return to the win column to close out the first half of SEC play. The Lady Tigers dropped a 75-58 decision at No. 5 Tennessee, while Ole Miss fell 64-62 versus No. 18 Mississippi State during their last time out.
LSU possesses a 30-21 series advantage and has won 23 of the last 27 meetings over the Rebels dating back to the 1995-06 season. The Lady Tigers have won five straight which includes a 66-56 victory last season in Oxford. LSU’s defense forced Ole Miss to misfire on its final 15 shots over the last eight minutes of the contest.
The Rebels are led by Tia Faleru’s 15.6 points and SEC-leading 10.6 rebounds per game. She has racked up double figures in 18 of her 20 games along with a SEC-best eight double-doubles on the season. Erika Sisk has tacked on 9.8 points per game followed by A’Quenn Hayes’ 7.2 points per game. Ole Miss has already doubled its SEC win total from a season ago under second-year coach Matt Insell.
“I’m excited about where this team is right now,” head coach Nikki Caldwell said. “We had a very competitive stretch of the first part of our SEC schedule. We have another stretch here where we can play at home which is a plus for us, but we also have to take it one game at a time. We are looking forward to our matchup against Ole Miss. We feel as though we have played parts of Ole Miss. (Tia) Faleru is a very explosive player. She’s their go to inside, and we have had an opportunity to obviously go against talented post players in the SEC already.”
Danielle Ballard has notched a team-leading 14.4 points per game which would rank fourth on the SEC leaderboard during conference games. She has added 5.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Over her last three games, Ballard has collected at least 15 points and connected on 52.2 percent of her field goal attempts.
Raigyne Moncrief has amassed 11.2 points per game coupled with a team-leading 6.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Like Ballard, she has secured at least 15 points in three straight games and put together a 47.4 percent shooting clip. Moncrief has registered 2.1 steals per game which is eighth among the SEC leaders.
After missing the Tennessee game due to injury, DaShawn Harden is expected to return to action for the Lady Tigers. She has come away with 11.5 points per game which is second on the team in addition to a team-leading 27 three-pointers. Harden has picked up 2.4 steals per game, second-most in the SEC.
Rina Hill is coming off her highest scoring output of the season with a 12-point effort on 5-of-7 shooting at No. 5 Tennessee. For the season, she has tallied 4.2 points and 1.4 assists per game. Hill has started LSU’s last eight games at point guard which began with the Miami game on Dec. 29.
Jenna Deemer and Anne Pedersen have chipped in 6.1 and 5.3 points per game, respectively. Deemer continues to be LSU’s top threat from three-point territory at 41.1 percent whereas Pedersen has logged 15 of her 18 career starts this season. Jasmine Rhodes has averaged 3.2 points per game and gone 6-for-10 from the floor over her last four efforts.
LSU’s post game is headed by Sheila Boykin‘s 7.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. She has started 13 consecutive games and upped her shooting percentage to 57.9 percent over her last 10 games. Akilah Bethel has chimed in with 6.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. She has made her last six appearances off the bench. Ann Jones (3.8 PPG), Stephanie Amichia (3.1 PPG) and Alliyah Fareo (0.9 PPG) also add depth to the Lady Tigers post rotation. Jones garnered four points over 14 minutes at No. 5 Tennessee.
“This game on Thursday will really boil down to a few things,” Caldwell said. “We talk about the team that is willing to do everything and anything to put their team in a position to win. A team that is going to feel an inclusion, a team that makes everybody feel a part of it and a team that is never going to quit. Those are the three keys that we are really going to focus in on.”
For all of the latest news and information on Lady Tiger basketball, visit www.LSUsports.net/womensbasketball. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/LSUwbkb, @LSUwbkb and @Nikki Caldwell on Twitter, @LSUwbkb and @LSUNikkiCaldwell on Instagram.
LSU Women’s Basketball Media Session
January 28, 2015
HEAD COACH NIKKI CALDWELL
Opening statement …
“I’m excited about where this team is right now. We had a very competitive stretch of the first part of our SEC schedule. We have another stretch here where we can play at home which is a plus for us, but we also have to take it one game at a time. We are looking forward to our matchup against Ole Miss. We feel as though we have played parts of Ole Miss. (Tia) Faleru is a very explosive player. She’s their go to inside, and we have had an opportunity to obviously go against talented post players in the SEC already. When you look at South Carolina and Tennessee, it’s just amazing the post players we have in our conference. This game on Thursday will really boil down to a few things. We talk about the team that is willing to do everything and anything to put their team in a position to win. A team that is going to feel an inclusion, a team that makes everybody feel a part of it and a team that is never going to quit. Those are the three keys that we are really going to focus in on.”
On the team’s focus going into Thursday’s game after the bye weekend …
“I think you want your team to have a sense of urgency regardless of who the next opponent is. I want us to come out and play with the intensity that we are capable of. We have an opportunity on Thursday to showcase that we have improved. There are areas that we have really focused in on during the last few days. One of those areas, obviously, is our defensive scheme. We wanted to be able to allow our team to have an opportunity to shut down post players. Our 5-defense, our man-to-man defense, doesn’t always promote that pressure when we get over extended so we wanted to really focus in on eliminating paint points. The other area that we have really focused in on was not sending teams to the free throw line. In the Tennessee game, we sent them there 21 times. If we can take just small aspects of the game and focus in on those two critical ones, we will see improvement. The team can focus on those types of things that they can control.”
On DaShawn Harden‘s status for Thursday’s game …
“DaShawn was cleared to practice. She’ll be practicing today, and she’s been practicing the last few days. We’re excited that we will have her back, and she will be ready to compete on Thursday. We’re going to bring her along off the bench. She’s somebody that can definitely give us that spark that we need. She’s doing whatever we ask of her. She’s being very coachable. She’s willing to do whatever she has to do to help her teammates win and to be successful. I like the fact that we will have a scoring punch that will be entering the game off the bench. Also, DaShawn brings a defensive element when you have her on the top of your press and on the top of your zone.”
On what Rina Hill brings to the team …
“She’s a tough, tough player. She doesn’t mind putting her body in harm’s way. This is a young lady who will go through a game and not really care if she scored a basket, but she cares if she is not stopping and defending people. We typically have her as our safety in transition defense because of her ability to stop the opponent’s transition game whether it’s taking charges or being really quick with her footwork. I like the assertiveness that Rina Hill played with against Tennessee. We were just visiting and talking about taking that to another level for us in the second half of conference play. You couldn’t ask for a more coachable or a more hardworking kid then Rina Hill.”
On Shelia Boykin’s basketball IQ …
“She plays with great positioning, and she anticipates. She knows the scouting report so she will play smart personnel defense. When we were talking about players loving to turn over their left shoulder, Shelia Boykin is going to stand there and take that hit. She’s playing the game up here even though you said she’s a step slower, but that mental preparation and her mental toughness makes up for that. Sheila has been by far one of our consistent basketball players. She’s been consistent in her preparation. She’s been consistent in her time management on the floor. She’s been logging a lot of minutes, but she’s picking and choosing when she needs to come out. I like that Sheila has been that steady player for us in the post. Again, we talk about that you can’t measure the size of someone’s heart. You have a big-hearted and competitive player in Sheila Boykin.”
On Ole Miss …
“I hope we are extremely focused because Ole Miss is a very good basketball team. I don’t know if putting a number on the scouting report, like putting number 15 Ole Miss, would help motivate this group. They should have motivation besides a number being in front of a team. Ole Miss is a team that when we played at their place last year, it was a battle. We know how competitive the SEC is. We also know what’s at stake. We know that we are tied with Ole Miss in our SEC standings, and we have to take it one game at a time. But more importantly, we can’t overlook anybody in our conference because there are just great players here. Again, Ole Miss is a team that can run the basketball. We talk about them being one of the best running teams in the country. We talk about their ability to get on the offensive glass. Those are the same things that we talk about when we talk about some of these top-ranked teams. Ole Miss is doing those types of things. They are playing the style Kentucky plays. They have an explosive post player just like Tennessee does. There are a lot of similarities in what Ole Miss is capable of doing and what their strengths are and some of the top teams in the country.”