by Joey Papania
LSUsports.net
BATON ROUGE — The frontcourt of the LSU women’s basketball team is abundant with size and talent this season. And one of the key components to the Lady Tiger’s success this year is junior April Brown.
Brown, a native of Gulfport, Mississippi, is in her third season at LSU. She saw playing time in 28 games as a true freshman starting in eight of those games.
Last year Brown moved into the starting position on a more permanent basis starting all 30 games for Head Coach Sue Gunter‘s Lady Tigers. Including the first seven games of this season, she is currently riding a string of 40 consecutive starts, second on the team behind senior Katrina Hibbert.
Midway through the 1997-1998 season, Brown suffered a knee injury and never fully regained form. Despite averaging 7.8 points and over five rebounds per game a year ago, Brown was overshadowed in her sophomore year by Detrina White, last year’s National Freshman of the Year.
After a 25-point performance in the Lady Tigers’ upset of then-No. 2-ranked Georgia, Brown is finally getting her due.
“April is the most underrated player on our team,” said Coach Gunter. “She can do so many things to hurt you.”
So far this year Brown has moved back into the spotlight. After the Georgia victory, Brown shared SEC Player of the Week honors with Katrina Hibbert and was also named the Louisiana Sports Writer’s Association women’s college basketball Player of the Week after averaging 18.5 points, seven rebounds, and four steals in a pair of LSU victories.
“I feel like receiving any honor is a great accomplishment, not only to me but to my teammates,” Brown said. “Beating Georgia was a great win for us, but we have to put that game behind us. It’s over and we need to focus on our next game.”
The next game for the Lady Tigers was against Big Ten powerhouse Michigan this past weekend. Brown poured in 14 points as LSU avoided the letdown with a 67-56 win against the Wolverines on Saturday afternoon.
In the Lady Tigers’ first seven games, Brown is second on the team in scoring with 14.1 per game, while ranking fourth in rebounding at 4.3 per game.
“I’ve tried to take on the responsibility of a leadership role, especially to help the freshmen,” said Brown. In addition to Brown and established starters like Hibbert and White, the Lady Tigers’ frontcourt consists of three very talented but inexperienced freshmen.
As a three-year starter, Brown has assumed a leadership role to help mold players like Jamie Hawkins, Kaisha Lymon, and Ke-Ke Tardy.
As the year progresses LSU continues to improve finding their rhythm. The Lady Tigers only have five more games before returning to SEC play at the beginning of January. The experience of players like April Brown will aid the Tigers in the talent-laden SEC.