BATON ROUGE — LSU’s 12th-ranked women’s basketball team will play for the first time in two weeks on Friday as the Lady Tigers host Liberty in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Xavier (26-4), seeded sixth in the tournament, and 11th-seeded Stephen F. Austin (27-3) meet at 6 p.m. in the first game on Friday at the Maravich Assembly Center. Tipoff for the LSU and Liberty contest is set for approximately at 8:30 p.m.
LSU, the No. 3 seed in the East Regional, enters the tournament with a 22-6 overall mark. Friday’s game will be the first for LSU since a 59-46 loss to Vanderbilt at the Southeastern Conference Tournament on March 3.
Liberty, champions of the Big South Conference, is 23-7 overall and the Flames will carry an 11 game winning streak into the contest. The game will mark the first meeting between the teams.
“Obviously we are excited to still be playing,” LSU coach Sue Gunter said. “I think we have an outstanding field in this subregional. I’m very impressed with Liberty. They are a gritty team and they execute very well. Liberty is good or they wouldn’t be here.
“They do a lot of different things very well. I think it doesn’t matter who we play right now because any opponent would scare me to death. You have to respect every team we play and we are very impressed with what we’ve seen in Liberty. It should be an interesting matchup.”
LSU enters the contest riding a school-record 46 straight non-conference home-court winning streak. LSU has not lost a home non-conference game since a 68-62 setback to Lamar on Jan. 30, 1995. The streak also includes four NCAA Tournament victories. Last year, LSU beat Evansville and eighth-ranked Notre Dame to advance to the Sweet 16.
The Lady Tigers continue to be paced by 5-foot-9 junior guard Marie Ferdinand, a third team All-American selection, and senior forward Katrina Hibbert, a three-time first team All-SEC pick. Ferdinand ranks second in the SEC with 17.4 points a contest and her 2.7 steals a game are first in the league. Hibbert, who has a chance to become the first player in school history to play in three NCAA Sweet 16s, ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in seven categories, including eighth in scoring (14.5 points) and fourth in both steals (2.5) and assists (5.2).
Rounding out the LSU lineup will be 5-11 junior point guard Angelia Crockett (3.9 points, 4.4 assists), 5-11 junior forward April Brown (11.1 points, 4.6 rebounds) and 5-11 sophomore forward DeTrina White (11.6 points, 8.9 rebounds).
Liberty has three starters in double-figures led by 5-6 senior guard Sharon Wilkerson, the Big South Player of the Year this season. Wilkerson is averaging 13.6 points and 3.4 rebounds a contest.
Other starters for the Flames include 5-8 sophomore guard Rachel Young (4.6 points, 2.1 rebounds), 6-1 senior forward Elena Kisseleva (11.8 points, 6.0 rebounds), 6-0 freshman forward Zandrique Cason (6.9 points, 4.7 rebounds), and 6-2 freshman center Michelle Fricke (11.6 points, 7.3 rebounds).
“I think there are three keys to the game — defense, rebounding and taking care of the basketball,” Gunter said. “And whoever does the three the best will probably win the game.”