MSU Heads To LSU As End of Regular Season Rapidly Approaches
May 25, 2016 | Women's Basketball
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STARKVILLE, Miss. --?? The Lady Bulldogs have lost three straight conference games and are looking to rebound with what would be their first-ever victory in Baton Rouge. State is 0-15 when facing the LSU Lady Tigers (14-9, 7-5) at their place. Mississippi State (17-9, 7-5) is tied for fourth place in the SEC standings with LSU and Florida. MSU closes out the regular season hosting Florida on Sunday.
Junior forward LaToya Thomas, a back-to-back Kodak All-American, is averaging 24.0 points per game, aided by 18, 20+ point outings. Thomas also leads the squad in rebounds with 9.4 per outing, which includes a career-high 22-rebounds against Montana. She is the best field-goal shooter on the team with a .571 percentage (237-of-415).
Freshman guard Tan White is second on the squad in scoring and rebounding, pouring in 19.0 points and pulling down 7.4 boards per outing. She leads the team in assists, dishing 4.6 per night, in steals, tallying 2.8 per contest and in blocks, knocking down 1.0 per outing. She leads the team in three-pointers with 49.
Sophomore Lyndi Sippel made her first career start replacing Jennifer Fambrough at Alabama. She has remained in the starting line-up since then. In her four starts, she has averaged 24.5 minutes, 5.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
Aside from White and Thomas, junior Keisha Stringfellow, a consistent starter for MSU this season and freshman Rebecca Kates are the only Lady Bulldogs to have played in all 26 games this year. Kates, who had a career game last Saturday with 19 points and eight rebounds, has provided much needed depth off the bench for the Lady Bulldogs. MSU is averaging 78.4 points per game while holding its opponents to 70.0. points per contest. State is shooting 46.5 percent from the field, 38.3 percent from three-point range and 72.2 percent from the line.
LSU is coming off a 72-62 defeat of South Carolina in Baton Rouge on Sunday. Prior to that win, the Lady Tigers had lost two on the road at Arkansas (80-71) and at Vanderbilt (77-60). LSU?s other SEC losses have come at Georgia (72-56), at Tennessee (79-67) and vs. Vanderbilt (64-53) at home.
Leading the Lady Tigers in both scoring and rebounding is Aiysha Smith with averages of 16.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Doneeka Hodges is next in line averaging 15.1 points per outing, which includes a team-leading 41.5 shooting percentage (44-of-106) from behind the arc. Scholanda Dorrell is the only other Lady Tiger averaging double digits with 11.2 points per contest.
The Lady Bulldogs can be heard on WFCA 107.9 FM with Bart Gregory calling the action.
