By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
After dropping its SEC opener 80-78 to No. 11 Kentucky Thursday night, the fifth-ranked LSU women’s basketball team (14-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) looks to redeem itself against No. 12 Vanderbilt (14-0, 1-0 SEC) at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville on Sunday (4 p.m., ESPN).
The Tigers may have torn up their light non-conference schedule at 14-0, but on Thursday they re-discovered that SEC play won’t come as easy. Kentucky dominated LSU on the glass, outrebounding the Tigers, 45-29. LSU was only able to pick up four offensive boards, while allowing the Wildcats to grab 17.
“We got five games that are going to be extremely tough. We know that,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “And yes, we’ve got to rebound, and we’ve got to get better. You don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself and have a pity party.”
Vanderbilt just throttled Arkansas, 88-71, in their first conference game.
“You’ve got to turn your attention quickly to a very good Vanderbilt team,” Mulkey said.
And rebounding was not LSU’s only issue in the loss to Kentucky. The Tigers led the Wildcats by as many as seven in the fourth quarter, but the No. 1 scoring offense in the country fell apart in the last five minutes. LSU did not convert a single field goal in the final 5:03 of the game.
“I thought we quit sharing the ball, quit reversing the ball,” Mulkey said. “We’d always want to do one pass, one pick, you know, then jack it up.”
Vanderbilt sophomore guard Mikayla Blakes will challenge LSU. She is No. 4 in the country in scoring with 24.7 a game and had 35 against Arkansas.
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