Off to a 4-1 start, Gunter pleased with the unselfish approach of her team. Despite an opening night loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock, the Lady Tiger basketball team is off and running with a 4-1 record through the early portion of its schedule. Behind the inspired play of and , the Lady Tigers have answered many of the questions that were asked when starting point guard tore her ACL in the final exhibition game of the season.
The Lady Tigers were thorough and methodical in their dismantling of Louisiana-Lafayette Tuesday evening, getting 22 points from Hibbert and a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds from in their 82-39 triumph.
The road ahead is much tougher, however. Thursday night the Lady Tigers travel to Athens, Ga., for a showdown with second-ranked Georgia. The Lady Bulldogs, a Final Four team a year ago, enter the contest a perfect 7-0 and have won seven of the last eight meetings between the two schools. Last year Georgia took a 73-60 decision in Baton Rouge.
LSU head coach Sue Gunter sat down with LSUsports.net correspondent Fred Demarest to discuss the early progress of the Lady Tigers as they prepare for their toughest test of the season to date.
Demarest: Coach Gunter, you’ve reeled off four straight victories after an opening season loss at Texas Tech. Now that you’re five games into the season, what do you know about your team now that you didn’t two weeks ago?
Gunter: Fred, right now we’ve had to make so many adjustments because we lost one of our starters right off the bat and that starter happened to be our point guard. I’ve learned that our team has got a lot of grit. I’ve learned that we are a very unselfish team and that we’ve got players who want to step up. A couple of people came to me and specifically told me that they would be willing to play out of position and pick up the point guard spot, namely Katrina Hibbert. We’ve asked a lot of people to move around and play in different positions and they’ve done very well and that tells me that they’ve got the best interest of the team in mind. This is a very gutsy team and they don’t like to lose.
Demarest: You’ve already had a taste of playing a ranked opponent on the road, playing against Texas Tech in Lubbock to open the season, but playing the No. 2 ranked team in the nation, and also a conference opponent, in their building is a little bit different. How do you approach Thursday night’s game with Georgia?
Gunter: There’s a big difference in the two ranked teams that we’re talking about. Georgia is the No. 2 team in the nation and they were a Final Four team a year ago and have all their starters back. We’re playing them on their floor, so all the odds are against us.
I’ll turn around and say this at the same time. No one expects us to win this game. That places a great deal more pressure on them than on us. It’s one of those games that if we can go and get a win that would be monstrous for us. It’s a conference game which makes it even more critical to us. But at the same time, we have 13 more conference games after Georgia, so we can’t go in and think that if we lose it’s the end of the world, it’s still just one game. You can look at the positives and negatives and weigh them. For me, I’m looking at it as an opportunity to go into an environment where we’re not expected to win and maybe make something happen because we come into the game loose. The only thing that concerns me is that we’re a couple players short of being able to do what we’d like to do right now.
Demarest: Of the people who have had to step up in the early portion of your season, Katrina Hibbert stands out in many respects because of her versatility. She nearly broke the school record for assists with 13 in your home opener against UNC-Asheville, then also proved she could score in the ULL game, putting up a game-high 22. How important has her versatility been to this team and its early successes?
Gunter: Katrina is just an amazing young basketball player. Her knowledge of the game, her preparation, the way she approaches the game is just amazing. Katrina does whatever the team needs her to do. She does whatever needs to be done in a particular game, in a particular segment of the game. Her knowledge of the game and her court saavy is remarkable.
After we lost (point guard) Kisha James, she came up to me and told me that we didn’t need Marie Ferdinand to run the point, that we needed to free Marie up to do the things that she does well – run the floor and score and be the explosive two-guard that she is. Katrina came to me and told me that she would adjust her game. She told me that she is not a point guard, but that she thought she could adjust so that we didn’t lose Marie’s offensive exploits. That says a lot for your senior, who is probably your most high profile player.
She had only had one double-figure scoring game before the ULL game, but then she turns around and drops in 19 in the first half and she’s stroking the three. What more can you say? She’s one of those players that is so versatile and is so key to any success that we have this year, whether it be against Georgia or next week against Michigan, whoever. She is a complete player and will be sorely missed next year. She’s such a pleasure to coach. You can talk to any coach on this staff and any player in our locker room and there is an understood respect for her versatility and commitment to this team.
Demarest: From an already established player like Katrina, now take a look at the other person you eluded to a moment ago, Marie Ferdiand, who seems to be on the brink of becoming one of the elite two-guards in the Southeastern Conference. Anyone who has seen her play has to enjoy her explosive, up-tempo style of play. She’s averaging a team-high 17 points a game, what is her potential? Is the sky the limit for Marie?
Gunter: What a fun player to watch. What a fun player to coach for that matter. Right now I’d be pressed to say that there is a quicker two-guard in the conference and there probably aren’t too many in the country that have as quick a first step as Marie. She has a great vertical lift, she gets up and down the floor and does all the things that you want a guard to do, she’s a lot of fun to watch because she has so much fun on the court.
Number one, she’s a gifted athlete with explosive capabilities. She has great range and elevates and seems to go up one extra floor on that jumper. The thing that Marie has done so far this season that goes beyond everything I’ve just said, and is one of the reason that we’ve been successful early, is how gutsy she is playing on the defensive end. And when Marie Ferdinand puts pressure on you, it’s pressure on you. It’s tough to beat her because she is so quick, her feet are so quick. She has made a difference for us. Her defensive efforts have opened a lot of things up for us. It’s created a lot more turnovers and has given us a great many more transition baskets and we’re a much better basketball team when we’re in transition.
She’s a dynamic basketball player. When you add (center) DeTrina White with that mix of youth, we’re a fun team to watch and a very exciting team to watch.
Demarest: Your team received great news a little over a week ago when Angelia Crockett was able to rejoin the team and begin practicing. She is a true point guard and, obviously, her progress will allow your team to take more of its natural form with everyone playing in their respective positions. Angelia was able to get some work in this past weekend on your trip to California, how is she coming along?
Gunter: I see Crockett in the starting lineup after we get back from final exams. That’s not taking anything away from or Candice Porter who have both been starting in our front court as a result of shifting Katrina back. Crockett just gets us back to more of a normal lineup. It gives us an extra body, it gives us a true point guard and allows us to move Katrina back to small forward and Marie to play the true two spot. It also gives us more depth. Katrina and Marie have been playing a lot of minutes so far, more than I would like at this point in time because we’ve had no choice. When you get Angelia back in the equation, then we can get more of a guard rotation and give some people a minute or two of rest here and there. We can play Ke-Ke Tardy more at the two if we want or let her give Katrina a rest and play the three.
Crockett coming back to the active roster is a huge addition for us. I think by the time we get to the Michigan game (on December 11), I foresee that she’ll be in the starting lineup.