Its 13-game win streak in the rearview mirror after Thursday’s 66-60 loss to No. 1 South Carolina, LSU hopes to start a new string of victories at Auburn on Sunday at 4 p.m.
LSU first-year coach Kim Mulkey said her team snapped back quickly following the loss in which the Tigers (14-2 overall, 2-1 in the SEC) were outrebounded by 25 but stayed in the game by forcing 21 South Carolina turnovers.
“You make sure the response is the way it needs to be and I thought they were great,” Mulkey said of her team’s Friday shootaround. “You don't want to be content that you ever lose and that you played them close and that you weren't supposed to play them that close.”
LSU is vastly improved from last season in almost every facet of the game. The Tigers are third in the SEC in scoring (75.7 ppg) and field goal percentage (46.3) and second in scoring margin (+19.7).
The LSU starting backcourt of Khayla Pointer and Alexis Morris is averaging a combined 32.2 points and 10.2 rebounds.
Pointer (17.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists) is fourth in the SEC in scoring and has scored at least 20 in seven games. Morris (14.5 points and 3.6 rebounds) is No. 13 in the league in scoring.
“We like to say you know we're getting better,” Pointer said after the South Carolina loss. “Anybody that knows this league knows it's gonna be a dogfight, every single game.”
LSU is undefeated away from home this season, going 2-0 in road games and 4-0 at neutral sites. The Tigers won their SEC opener 68-62 at then-No. 13 Georgia on Dec. 30.
Auburn (8-5, 0-2 SEC) opened SEC play with road losses at Alabama (56-53) last Sunday and at Missouri (72-63 in overtime) Thursday. Yet AU has a six-game win streak at Auburn Arena, dating back to a victory over Alabama State on Nov. 16.
Sophomore Aicha Coulibaly leads Auburn and is third in the SEC in scoring (17.9 ppg) and is also the AU’s top rebounder (8.2 rpg). She has topped the 20-point mark in five of the last eight contests.
Redshirt junior Honesty Scott-Grayson, who played under Mulkey at Baylor, averages 13.2 points and 6.2 rebounds. Junior point guard Sania Wells is averaging 11.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists and she’s the SEC's top free-throw shooter at 93.3 percent (42-45).