BATON ROUGE — The ninth-ranked LSU women’s basketball team hosts No. 4 Georgia in a Southeastern Conference battle on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The game will be televised by tape delay on the Pelican Sports Network and can be seen in Baton Rouge on cable channel 18 on Monday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. The game can be heard on the radio in Baton Rouge on WTGE 107.3-FM or on the internet at www.LSUsports.net.
Tickets can be purchased for just $5 at the PMAC ticket office before the game and two-for-one tickets can be obtained at Baton Rouge area Winn-Dixie’s. It will be Girl Scout night in the arena allowing all girls wearing a girl scout uniform get in free.
The Lady Tigers (11-4, 2-1 SEC) enter the game having won nine of their last ten games, which includes victories over No. 6 Purdue and No. 17 Mississippi State. They rallied for a 61-54 victory over Arkansas last time out.
Georgia (14-2, 2-0) has won 12 straight games since falling to No. 4 Notre Dame in November. During the run, the Lady Bulldogs have won games by an average of 30.8 points. They are fresh off a 72-59 win over No. 10 Florida.
“Georgia is a dangerous team that has a lot of talent,” said LSU coach Sue Gunter. “They are very capable of putting up a lot of points on you in a hurry if you aren’t prepared to play. We need to come out aggressive and be focused for 40 minutes.
Last year, LSU upset the second-ranked Lady Bulldogs in Athens, Ga., 80-74.
Overall, Georgia has held the upper hand in the series as it owns a 15-7 mark against LSU, including a 5-2 advantage in Baton Rouge. The Lady Bulldogs have not lost in Baton Rouge since 1989 when the Lady Tigers handed them an 82-72 defeat.
LSU’s 17-game home winning streak, nine short of the school record, will be on the line in the contest. The Lady Tigers have not lost at home since Tennessee won in Baton Rouge in January of last season. Dating back to the 1996-97 season, LSU has lost just four times in the PMAC compared to 66 wins, which is the best mark in the SEC. However, two of the Lady Tigers’ four home losses in that time have come against Georgia.
“Baton Rouge is a place they have had a lot of success in the past. They know what it takes to come in here and pull out a victory as much as anyone,” Gunter noted. “But we have been one of the best home teams in the conference in the past couple years, so that is something they will have to contend with as well.”
Leading the Lady Bulldogs will be twin guards Kelly (15.6 ppg, 4.4 apg) and Coco Miller (17.2 ppg, 3.0 apg), both 5-10 seniors. Tawana McDonald (10.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg), a 6-4 junior, is expected to be joined by 6-1 senior Tiuanna Briggans (4-1 ppg, 2.8 rpg) and 5-11 senior Kiesha Brown (4.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg) in the frontcourt. Brown is replacing Deanna Nolen (12.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg), who broke a finger in the win over Florida, in the starting five.
LSU will counter with Marie Ferdinand (20.8 ppg, 3.1 apg), a 5-9 senior, and 5-11 senior Angelia Crockett (2.3 ppg, 3.2 apg) at the guards, 5-11 senior April Brown (10.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg) and 6-1 sophomore Ke-Ke Tardy (7.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg) at the forwards, and 5-11 junior DeTrina White (9.3 ppg, 7.1 rpg) at center.
Five all-SEC performers will be on the court: the Miller twins and McDonald from Georgia as well as Ferdinand and White from LSU. Nolen, who is out 4-6 weeks, has also been tabbed to the all-conference teams.
Kelly Miller, the reigning SEC Player of the Year, and Ferdinand will be the feature match up as both were all-Americans last season and were selected to numerous preseason all-America teams.