Kentucky has not beaten Louisiana State in women's basketball in more than a decade.

The Wildcats have lost close games, like last season's 59-56 defeat in Lexington and the 57-56 loss in Baton Rouge. There have also been blowouts, like the 82-39 blistering at LSU in 2003.

All told, the Tigers have won 16 games in a row against Kentucky, including eight straight in Baton Rouge.

Is there reason to expect Thursday night's meeting not to be more of the same?

LSU Coach Van Chancellor, whose Tigers have lost three of their last four after starting the season 13-1, seems to think so.

"Right now there are three teams really playing their best basketball in our league — Georgia, Ole Miss and Kentucky," Chancellor said. "They are playing lights-out. This will be one of our most difficult games of the season."

Thursday's game matches the league's top offensive and defensive teams. Kentucky leads the Southeastern Conference in scoring, averaging 78.2 points per game. LSU leads the league in scoring defense at 49.8 points per game.

"It will be key for us to get points off turnovers and get as many transition buckets as we can get because it is hard to score on LSU in the half-court," Kentucky Coach Matthew Mitchell said. "They are big and powerful and tough."

LSU (14-4, 3-3 SEC) is ranked 18th by the media and 19th by the coaches. Kentucky (16-3, 4-2) is No. 23 in the coaches' poll but unranked by the media.

The Cats' last win over LSU was in the 1999 SEC Tournament, but their last win in Baton Rouge was in 1995. LSU leads the all-time series 28-7.

"This will be a difficult test for our team," Mitchell said. "We have not played very well on the road in conference as of late, and it will be a challenge to go win against a really good team."