BATON ROUGE — The 11th-ranked LSU women’s basketball team returns to action on Thursday at 7 p.m. for a Southeastern Conference battle with Kentucky at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The game will not be televised live, but can be seen by tape delay on channel 18 on Friday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. The game can be heard on the radio on at 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 coupons can be obtained at Baton Rouge area Winn-Dixie’s. It is also Spirit Poster Night allowing free admission to anyone who makes a poster supporting the Lady Tigers and brings it to the game.
LSU (11-5, 2-2 SEC) enters the game ranked 11th in the nation. However, the Lady Tigers are fresh off a 64-55 defeat at the hands of No. 4 Georgia.
Kentucky (4-11, 0-4) has lost four straight games, all coming in conference action. LSU will be the fourth ranked foe for the Lady Wildcats in their last five games. Kentucky last won on Dec. 30 when they beat Florida Atlantic, 112-71.
“Kentucky has had an extremely tough schedule to open the conference season,” said LSU coach Sue Gunter. “They haven’t had a lot of success yet this year, but they have a lot of young talent that is improving every time it steps on the floor. (Kentucky coach) Bernadette (Mattox) is a very good coach and will have them ready to play.”
Last season, LSU traveled to Lexington and handed Kentucky a 66-59 defeat.
The Lady Tigers have won four of the last five regular season meetings and three straight at home. Overall, LSU leads the series 13-7 which includes a nine-game win streak from 1984-1991. Kentucky won four in a row following that.
The Lady Tigers will put their 36-game home-winning streak over non-ranked opponents on the line. They have not lost to an unranked team at the PMAC since a loss to Alabama in 1998.
LSU is expected to start 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.
Kentucky looks to counter with forwards LaTonya McDole, a 6-1 junior (13.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and Shambrica Jones, a 6-0 freshman (2.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg), guards Rita Adams, a 5-8 sophomore (8.4 ppg, 3.0 apg) and Kristin Connelly, a 5-10, freshman (6.5 ppg, 1.1 rpg) and center Alvine Mendeng, a 6-1 freshman (6.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg).