by Michael Bonnette
LSU Sports Information
Heading into the season Angelia Crockett looked as if she would be LSU’s backup at any one of three spots on the floor. With her outstanding athletic ability, Crockett is capable of playing both guard positions as well as small forward and the preseason plan was for her to see action at all three spots.
It didn’t take long to change those plans as starting point guard Kisha James blew out her knee on a freak play in LSU’s final exhibition contest a week prior to the Lady Tigers’ season-opener against Texas Tech. With James out for the year, Crockett became a one-position player for the Lady Tigers — point guard.
But Crockett’s debut as a Lady Tiger starter would have to wait a couple of weeks as she too was out with an injury, a stress fracture in her left foot that kept the 5-foot-11 junior on the sidelines for LSU’s first three games. As a result, Marie Ferdinand and Katrina Hibbert were forced to share the point guard duties.
Crockett played sparingly in LSU’s win over St. Bonaventure on Nov. 26, but her breakout game came one day later against St. Mary’s and she’s been on the floor ever since. As a matter of fact, Crockett was so impressive in her season-debut that she played the entire second half and all of the overtime period in leading the Lady Tigers to the 68-65 come-from-behind win over St. Mary’s in Moraga, Calif.
In 10 games, Crockett has started seven times with the Lady Tigers winning six of those games, including an 80-74 victory over second-ranked Georgia in Athens. The win over Georgia was Crockett’s first start since her freshman season and it was also marked the highest-ranked team that LSU has ever beaten on the road. Crockett only scored two points against Georgia, but the stat that left the impression was only one turnover in 27 minutes of action.
“In a very quite way, Angelia Crockett is doing all the things that you want a good point guard to do,” LSU coach Sue Gunter said. “Sometimes I think we get caught up in what everybody else is doing, and for Angelia, that’s fine for her. She’s very-much a team player and she’s doing an outstanding job for us. In 10 games this year, she really hasn’t had a bad game.”
Crockett played perhaps her best game of the year with 10 points and a career-best nine assists in LSU’s 103-35 win over Jackson State on Dec. 28. The Jackson State contest capped a four-game stretch that saw Crockett dish out 27 assists while turning the ball over just eight times.
“Angelia just continues to get better and better,” Ferdinand said. “She’s not really a true point guard and for her to fill in and play the way she’s been playing is remarkable.
“For Angelia to come in and play the point, it’s allowed Katrina and myself to go back to playing our natural positions. As a result, we are a much better team.”
Not one to say a whole lot, Crockett realizes her role on the team is that of getting the team in its offense and distributing the basketball.
“My job is to get the ball in Marie or Katrina’s hands,” Crockett said. “I’m not much of a scorer, so I just try to get us in our offense and get the ball to whoever has the hot hand.”
While Crockett’s scoring may not be as impressive as that of a Ferdinand or Hibbert, she can put he ball in the hole when needed. Crockett, who has wooed crowds with her finger rolls and scoop shots, hit 4-of-5 shots to finish with eight points against Wake Forest and she followed that with a 4-of-6 shooting performance and 10 points against Jackson State. For the season, Crockett has connected on 16-of-31 shots from the floor and she’s averaging 3.9 points a game. Crockett has also dished out 36 assists for an average of 3.6 a game.
Another one of Crockett’s assets is that of her size. Standing 5-11, Crockett is one of the bigger point guard around and that size allows her wreak havoc on the defensive end.
“Angelia is extremely athletic and when you combine that with her size, she tends to cause some problems for opponents on the defensive end,” Gunter said. “Angelia has come in and done exactly what we’ve asked her to do and more.”
With Crockett directing the Lady Tigers, LSU has surged to a 10-2 mark and to a No. 16 national ranking. Not too bad for a player that wasn’t expected to play more than and handful of minutes at the point guard position in any one given game this year. Lucky for LSU, Angelia Crockett turned out to be a point guard in disguise.