Whitney Boddie had a tough time putting Thursday’s loss to Georgia in perspective because, really, she hasn’t had to do it much over the past two seasons.

The senior point guard has now been a part of two losses in the past two seasons. Boddie missed the bulk of her junior year because she was ruled academically ineligible. Before she was forced out, Auburn was 11-1.

“It was tough,” Boddie said. “You’re undefeated then, all of a sudden, losing is not easy at all.”

The SEC schedule doesn’t permit much time for teams to sulk and, for Auburn at least, it doesn’t provide much of a relief. The Tigers (20-1, 5-1 SEC) hit the road again today to take on LSU (11-7, 4-2) for a 2 p.m. tip.

“I don’t think it would have made a difference if it was Georgia or Appalachian State,” Boddie said. “It’s a loss, and we’re all competitive, and we don’t like losing.

“But we sucked it up, it happened, and now it’s just time to move on and get better.”

Because Auburn had been doing so much winning, weaknesses in the Tigers’ overall game were being overlooked, Boddie said.

A loss, though never desired, certainly served as an eye-opener.

Auburn’s defense has been suspect at times this season, but the SEC’s best scoring offense rarely required it to produce a lockdown effort.

Until Thursday.

When Auburn’s shots wouldn’t go down, it was forced to press as time melted off the clock. It was far from effective, as the Lady Bulldogs converted a number of quick opportunities to prevent Auburn from adding much intrigue to the end of the 67-58 loss.

“We couldn’t outscore them and when we needed to turn on our defense to get stops we couldn’t do it,” Boddie said. “We were just so used to beating teams by putting more points on the board instead of getting stops the way other teams win.

“It really showed us what we need to improve on.”

Of course, Auburn has shown the ability more often than not to hit its open looks, which prompted little concern from coach Nell Fortner.

“We have to continue to do what we do best,” Fortner said, “and not step back and shy away from those things.”

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No. 5 Auburn (20-1, 5-1 SEC) vs. LSU (11-7, 4-2)
Where: Pete Maravich Assembly Center; Baton Rouge, La.
When: 2 p.m.
TV/Radio: None/WMXA 96.7 FM
Projected starters Auburn: F Trevesha Jackson (7.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg), F/G DeWanna Bonner (21.2 ppg, 8.6 rpg), G Sherell Hobbs (12.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg), G Alli Smalley (12.3 ppg, 2.2 rpg), G Whitney Boddie (10.2 ppg, 7.9 apg)
Projected starters LSU: F Ayana Dunning (6.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg), F LaSondra Barrett (11.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg), G Latear Eason (2.9 ppg, 2.0 apg), G Andrea Kelly (4.5 ppg, 1.1 rpg), G Allison Hightower (13.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg)