STARKVILLE — Prior to the Mississippi State women’s basketball team’s Southeastern Conference opener against LSU, Diamber Johnson stressed the Lady Bulldogs needed to befriend pressure.

The senior point guard said the Lady Bulldogs had to welcome pressure defense from opponents so much that it was second nature for them to attack it and score against it.

Three days after kicking off SEC play with a disappointing loss to LSU, MSU will get a chance to see just how well it reacts to pressure when it takes on the No. 11 University of Kentucky at 2:30 p.m. today in Lexington, Ky.

“I know it will be a challenge for us,” MSU coach Sharon Fanning-Otis said. “They will guard hard from baseline to baseline for 40 minutes, so we need to take care of the ball.”

MSU (10-4, 0-1 SEC) led by as many as nine in the second half Thursday only to see LSU use a 14-2 spurt in the final six-plus minutes to steal a 53-48 victory at Humphrey Coliseum. The Lady Bulldogs committed only 15 turnovers against a bigger, more athletic Lady Tigers’ squad.

Today, MSU will face a different challenge. Kentucky (13-2, 2-0) doesn’t have as much depth of size as LSU, but it prides itself in making life extremely difficult for opponents with pressure defense. The Wildcats thrive in an up-tempo atmosphere in which they can force turnovers and create easy baskets.

Kentucky’s A’dia Mathies is tied with MSU’s Porsha Porter for the league lead with 3.6 steals per game. She also leads the team in scoring (15.7 points per game) and rebounding (5.5 per game).

Kentucky, which forced 22 turnovers last season in an 72-60 victory against MSU last season, is coming off an 84-72 victory against the University of Arkansas on Thursday. It leads the SEC in scoring (82 ppg.), scoring margin (24.2 ppg.), steals (14.9 per game), turnover margin (+12.6), and offensive rebounding (20.2 per game).

Those statistics could be a bad mix for MSU, which surrendered 23 offensive rebounds against LSU. It also figures to use at least two freshmen — Kendra Grant and Martha Alwal — in key roles. The status of Porter also remains uncertain. The senior was at less than 100 percent against LSU and scored only two points in 24 minutes.

Johnson and senior center Catina Bett, who had 11 points and seven rebounds against LSU, will be asked to pick up the slack if Porter has another sub-par outing.

Johnson leads the SEC in scoring (17.4 ppg.) and is 144 points away from 1,000 for her career. She needs to average 9.6 points in the final 15 league games to reach the milestone.

Fanning-Otis said Saturday she is anxious to see how the team responds. She said the players watched a replay of the LSU game Friday and understand the importance of the little things like boxing out and realize taking care of the basketball will be crucial if they want to snap a three-game losing streak to Kentucky.

MSU also will look to avoid an 0-2 start for the fourth time in the past 11 season. The Lady Bulldogs also lost their first two conference games last season, in 2007-08, and in 2003-04.

Fanning-Otis hopes a day of preparation against a scout team made up of male practice players has given the Lady Bulldogs a sense of where the traps will come from and what they will need to do to combat them.

“It is one of those things where we have to step it up and be ready,” Fanning-Otis said. “We have to shoot more free throws (only 2 of 8 against LSU) than our opponent because if we’re not getting to the point where we’re taking the ball at people it is going to be a glaring stat. We played good enough defense against LSU, but we didn’t rebound well enough, we didn’t make our free throws, and we didn’t keep them off the free-throw line. Kentucky is another team that rebounds hard and follows their shots, so we have to make sure we’re in the right spot and get good contact and position. We have to be tough and have the right demeanor.”

Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.