BATON ROUGE- Coach Sue Gunter enters her 18th year of coaching at LSU. This will be the silver anniversary season of Lady Tiger Basketball. Coach Brady begins his third year. The Tigers will play their first game on Saturday, November 29th against Grambling
Coach Gunters opening statements regarding the 1999-00 Lady Tigers:
Our schedule is tough. There arent to many cupcakes on the schedule. Our non-conference schedule is tougher than it has been in the past. I think that is good, we needed that. In the eighteen years at LSU from top to bottom one through twelve it is the best it has ever been. How can it get much better. When I first came to LSU there were 4 or 5 teams that were outstanding. Everyone else were after thoughts. Now, the SEC is the premier womens basketball conference in the country.
Coach Gunter spoke about the newcomers who will enter the LSU program:
Jamie Hawkins 6’3″ center out of Bristow, OK. A really good offensive player. Shoots the ball and has a real nice touch. She is a really astute basketball player. She will finish down in the low back. She has great range and has the ability to shoot the three.
Kaisha Lymon from Donaldsonville. Big strong kid, which is what we needed so badly. She is an outstanding rebounder, good defensive player, and can finish. She will defend on the inside. Jamelia Johns has made great progress. She has put on some weight and has gotten stronger. She is 6’4″. You cant coach someone to be 6’4″. She runs the floor and does a lot down on the floor as far as altering shoots. There will be a lot of competition for playing minutes down in the paint.
Ke-Ke Tardy is an outstanding player. Who will play a 3 for us. Good range, runs the floor well, good leaper, and has good instincts about the game. She will get better as the season progresses.
Danielle Traylor is coming in at midsemester. From Wabash Community College in Indiana. She will help out at the point and the two guard. Coach Gunter continued on and spoke about her returning players:
April Brown and Katrina Hibbert are emerging as the leaders of the team. Detrina White looks quicker and stronger. She has dropped about 15 pounds and toned up. She runs the floor well. Marie Ferdinand has the quickest first step in the conference. Angela Crockett will play a one, two, or 3 for us.
Coach Gunter then fielded questions from the media Last year the team was undersized, do you feel like the team will be better after adding some bigger players?
I think so. Its hard to believe we started the same five players every single game and none of those players were six feet. We felt we had to recruit some players to help out on the inside.
Do you think the style of play will change with bigger players?
I dont think the team will change greatly. What the players can give the team defensively will be a great advantage. We led the conference in defense last year. Well still be an up tempo team.
How do you feel about the LSU Lady Tigers being on TV eleven?
Remarkable. Speaks well for the coaches, the administration, and everyone involved. We were a fun team to watch last year. We probably executed better than any team Ive ever coached excluding the LA.Tech game.