BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s basketball team looks to snap a two-game losing streak and concludes the regular season against No. 12 Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon at the Maravich Center.
Tipoff is slated for 1:05 p.m., and the game will be carried by ESPNU. The telecast also is available on www.WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app. Melissa Lee and LaChina Robinson 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 Sunday’s game are on-sale at www.LSUtix.net starting as low as $5 for general admission. The Maravich Center Box Office opens at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. It’s Senior Day and Alumni Weekend. The first 2,000 fans will receive a 2005 Final Four Commemorative Poster to highlight the team’s 10-year anniversary.
LSU (15-12, 9-6 SEC) and Texas A&M (22-7, 10-5 SEC) will battle for a Top 4 seed and a double bye at next week’s SEC Tournament. The Aggies have won four of the five meetings between the two teams as SEC rivals which includes a 55-48 decision earlier this season. Texas A&M wiped away a seven-point LSU halftime advantage and was led by Jordan Jones and Curtyce Knox who tallied 20 of their 22 points during the second half.
| SEC Standings, Schedule, Tournament | |||
| Seed | Team | SEC | Overall |
| #1 | South Carolina | 15-0 | 27-1 |
| #2 | Tennessee | 14-1 | 27-4 |
| t3. | Mississippi St. | 10-5 | 25-5 |
| t3. | Texas A&M | 10-5 | 22-7 |
| t5. | Kentucky | 9-6 | 20-8 |
| t5. | LSU | 9-6 | 15-12 |
| 7. | Ole Miss | 7-8 | 17-11 |
| t8. | Arkansas | 6-9 | 16-11 |
| t8. | Missouri | 6-9 | 16-12 |
| t10. | Georgia | 5-10 | 17-11 |
| t10. | Vanderbilt | 5-10 | 14-14 |
| t10. | Florida | 5-10 | 13-15 |
| t13. | Alabama | 2-13 | 13-17 |
| t13. | Auburn | 2-13 | 11-17 |
| # Indicates SEC Tournament seed when determined. All times Central Sunday, March 1 Schedule 1 p.m. – Texas A&M at LSU, ESPNU 1 p.m. – Ole Miss at Mississippi St., FSN 2 p.m. – Alabama at Auburn, SEC Network+ 2 p.m. – Arkansas at Missouri, SEC Network+ 2 p.m. – Georgia at Florida, SEC Network 4 p.m. – South Carolina at Kentucky, ESPN2 4 p.m. – Vanderbilt at Tennessee, SEC Network SEC Tournament Schedule | Home Wed., March 4 |
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Courtney Walker and Courtney Williams are one of the SEC’s top scoring duos and have piled up 14.9 points and 14.2 points per game, respectively. The Aggies will be without Jones, the SEC’s leader with 6.6 assists per game, due to a season-ending injury. On the interior, Archiri Ade has tallied 6.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game followed by Khaalia Hillsman’s 5.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Last time out, Hillman pumped in 16 points and 11 rebounds against Missouri.
“Texas A&M does a nice job of getting after your guards and trying to disrupt you on the defensive end,” head coach Nikki Caldwell said. “They have players who can make baskets. The Courtney’s (Courtney Walker and Courntey Williams) are two of the best midrange players in our game. I feel as though we have two of the best in Danielle Ballard and Raigyne Moncrief. That’s going to be a combination that both teams will look to explore. Texas A&M has had a lot of success in their postgame. They’re a veteran team, and the Courtney’s are hard to guard because of their ability to play away from the basket.”
Ballard has ripped off doubles during a career-best 11 consecutive games where she has secured 15.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 3.3 assists per game. The SEC Player of the Year candidate is the only player to be ranked inside the SEC’s Top 10 in four of the five major statistical categories.
Moncrief bounced back from her season-low three points at Arkansas and pumped in 18 points on a 9-for-13 shooting effort at Ole Miss. For the season, she has picked up 11.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Her 7.0 rebounds are second among SEC guards and eight overall. She has garnered double figures in six of her last seven appearances.
DaShawn Harden has been a valuable contributor off the bench during LSU’s last eight games. Her 2.0 steals per game are sixth, while her 1.5 three-pointers per game are 12th in the SEC rankings. Harden is three points away from reaching 500 for her career.
LSU’s interior play has been sparked by Sheila Boykin‘s 6.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.5 assist per game. She has collected seven of her eight games with 10-plus points as a starter and handed out a career-high tying four assists during the Ole Miss game.
Akilah Bethel has registered at least five points and five rebounds in 14 of LSU’s 27 games on the season. Against Ole Miss, she returned to the starting lineup for the first time since LSU’s SEC opener at Florida. Ann Jones has garnered 3.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. She produced a SEC season’s best five points and tacked on a career-high two blocks at Ole Miss.
Jenna Deemer has come away with 5.9 points per game with 23 of her 41 field goals coming from three-point territory during her last 18 games.
Rina Hill and Anne Pedersen have improved their scoring marks over LSU’s last nine games. Pedersen has tallied 6.7 points per game on a 24-of-57 shooting clip whereas Hill has notched 5.4 points per game on 21-for-48 from the floor.
Stephanie Amichia (3.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG), Alliyah Fareo (0.6 PPG, 1.2 PPG) and Jasmine Rhodes (2.2 PPG, 1.6 RPG) have provided depth to LSU’s rotation throughout the season.
“It’s no surprise that Raigyne Moncrief and Danielle Ballard are our two leading scorers,” Caldwell said. “Our supporting cast, they have to step up and be ready to knock down open shots. You’re not going to win games by leaving points in the paint and at the free throw line. Defensively, we can’t continue to miss our coverages at the beginning of the game. Both Arkansas and Ole Miss came out ready and fired up. We’ve had two games where we have got off to bad starts. That has dictated the tempo of the game. We have had to play catch up in both of our road games. A lot of credit goes to Arkansas and Ole Miss. You have a lot of great teams and a lot of great players who make plays.
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.