BATON ROUGE — LSU’s ninth-ranked women’s basketball team can clinch a first round bye at next month’s Southeastern Conference Tournament when the Lady Tigers play host to Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Maravich Assembly Center.
The game will be televised live to a regional audience on College Sports-Southeast. The game will also be broadcast by the LSU Sports Network and can be heard in the Baton Rouge area on 107.3 FM as well as the Internet at www.LSUsports.com.
LSU enters the contest with a 19-4 overall mark and an 8-2 SEC record. By picking up its ninth win, LSU will be mathematically assured of finishing no worse than fourth in the SEC thus giving the Lady Tigers a first round bye at the conference tournament. LSU, who is 12-1 at home this season, is coming off a 68-51 victory over Arkansas on Saturday.
Vanderbilt has won three straight games and stands at 17-8 overall and 5-5 in league play. The Commodores are coming off a 59-51 win over Ole Miss on Sunday.
Last year, LSU posted a 69-54 win over Vanderbilt in Nashville to run its record to 9-7 in the series. Vanderbilt has won only once in Baton Rouge in six tries, that being a 78-56 win in 1996.
“Vanderbilt is a good team and they are coached very well,” LSU coach Sue Gunter said. “The thing that we have to be concerned with is that they are on a three-game winning streak after losing five straight so they are playing with a lot of confidence.
“Vanderbilt does a lot of things well. It’s not difficult to understand why they are on a role. They are going to be very tough for us to defend. We may have a few features that they don’t have but they are very good.”
One major concern for LSU is that of Vanderbilt’s size as the Commodores will start three players 6-0 or taller, including 6-6 freshman center Chantelle Anderson (15.4 points, 6.1 rebounds). The Commodores, who may be the tallest team in the nation, also have three players 6-2 or taller that will play. The Lady Tigers, on the other hand, don’t have a starter over 5-11 and their biggest player, 6-4 Jamilah Johns, averages just eight minutes a contest.
“We’ve been playing with a shorter lineup than most teams for the last couple of years,” Gunter said. “That just means we are going to have to play with a greater amount of intensity and we have to play smart.”
What LSU lacks is size is quickly made up by the Lady Tigers speed and the efficiency in which they run their offense. LSU leads the league and ranks second in the nation in field goal percentage at 50.4 percent. LSU also leads the SEC in assists per game with just over 20 a contest and the Lady Tigers are averaging just over 15 turnovers a game, the fewest in the league.
Leading the way for the Lady Tigers will be 5-11 senior forward Katrina Hibbert (14.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 54 assists) and 5-9 junior guard Marie Ferdinand (17.8 points, 5.7 assists). Ferdinand, who is coming off a 24-point, 9-rebound performance against Arkansas, ranks second in the league in scoring and third in assists. Hibbert is 12th in the SEC in scoring, second in 3-point field goal percentage and fourth in assists. Hibbert is also just 20 points away from becoming just the sixth player in LSU history to score 1,600 points in a career.
Joining Hibbert and Ferdinand in the LSU lineup will be 5-11 junior guard Angelia Crockett (4.1 points, 4.2 assists), 5-11 junior forward April Brown (11.0 points, 4.5 rebounds) and 5-11 sophomore center DeTrina White (12.0 points, 9.4 rebounds). White leads the SEC in four categories – rebounds, field goal percentage (61.1 pct.), offensive rebounds (4.0) and double-doubles (9).
Joining Anderson in the Commodore lineup will be 5-7 sophomore guard Julie deGroot (5.2 points, 0.9 rebounds), 5-5 freshman guard Ashley McElhiney (4.4 points, 2.4 assists), 6-0 senior forward Chavonne Hammond (11.3 points, 5.3 rebounds) and 6-2 sophomore forward Zuzi Klemisova (14.7 points, 7.1 rebounds).
“Both teams are going to play to their strengths, but I think the team that does the better job of taking care of the ball and executing will come out ahead,” Gunter said. “This will be a very interesting game. It’s just that time of year for all of us. Everything we’ve been working for all year is at stake. We have to be ready for the challenge.”