BATON ROUGE — LSU’s 22nd-ranked women’s basketball team opens its home schedule on Tuesday as the Lady Tigers play host to North Carolina-Asheville at 7 p.m. at the Maravich Assembly Center.
The contest will be televised on a tape-delay basis by College Sports-Southeast. The game will also be carried by the LSU Sports Network and can be heard in the Baton Rouge area on 107.3 FM.
LSU enters the contest with an 0-1 mark as the Lady Tigers opened their season with a 56-49 loss to 23rd-ranked Texas Tech on Saturday in Lubbock. UNC-Asheville is also winless as the Bulldogs dropped their season opener to Louisville by a 79-56 count. This will mark the first meeting between the teams.
LSU carries a nine-game overall home-court winning streak into Tuesday’s contest. In addition, the Lady Tigers have won a school-record 36 home games against non-conference teams, a streak that dates back to Jan. 30, 1995.
‘We don’ know a whole lot about UNC-Asheville,” LSU coach Sue Gunter said. “We know a little bit more about us than we did before the Texas Tech game. This game is a chance for us to play at home and try to correct some errors. We also have to do a better job of executing.
“One thing that we have to do better is rebound, especially on the defensive end. That was the difference in the Texas Tech game.”
In the season-opener against Texas Tech, LSU allowed the Lady Raiders to come up with 18 offensive rebounds, many of which turned into easy points. On the other hand, LSU managed only four offensive rebounds and just 31 total rebounds for the contest. DeTrina White, despite sitting out 15 minutes in the first half in foul trouble, led LSU with eight rebounds
against the Lady Raiders.
The Lady Tigers will once again be without the services of a true point guard as 5-11 junior Angelia Crockett will miss her second straight contest with a stress fracture in her left foot. Last week, LSU lost starting point guard Kisha James for the year with a torn ACL. In the absence of Crockett and James, Katrina Hibbert and Marie Ferdinand will share point guard duties.
“Marie and Katrina both did a good job at the point against Texas Tech,” Gunter said. “They both played 40 minutes on Saturday and that’s really too much, but it speaks volumes for their heart and for their level of conditioning. We are going to have to live with this (not having a point guard) for the next couple of weeks, and I think we’ll be able to.”
Ferdinand, a 5-9 junior, led the Lady Tigers with 17 points and a career-best eight assists in the season-opener, while Hibbert, a 5-11 senior, had nine points, six assists and six steals. Ferdinand also led the team with eight turnovers.
Rounding out the starting lineup for the Lady Tigers will be 5-11 junior forward April Brown (8.0 points, 6.0 rebounds) and 5-11 sophomore center White (10.0, 8.0). The final spot in the lineup will be occupied by either 6-1 freshman forward Ke-Ke Tardy (2.0, 2.0) or 6-1 senior forward Candice Porter (3.0, 1.0).
UNC-Asheville is led by 6-1 junior forward Nicole Sampson (14.0, 7.0) and 5-7 junior guard Denise Wilbanks (10.0, 5.0).
After Tuesday’s game, the Lady Tigers will next play again on Friday and Saturday in Moraga, Calif., at the St. Mary’s Thanksgiving Tournament. LSU opens with St. Bonaventure at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.