BATON ROUGE — The 10th-ranked LSU women’s basketball team squares off with Southeastern Conference foe Auburn on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for “Pack the PMAC V.”
Pack the PMAC is an annual event for the LSU women’s basketball program in which tickets are distributed throughout the Baton Rouge area in hopes of filling the arena. This year over 100,000 tickets have been passed out in the city.
Free tickets for the game can be printed out on the LSU website at www.LSUsports.net.
As part of the game’s festivities, fans have the chance to win loads of prizes, including a brand-new Mitsubishi Eclipse, valued at over $22,000, from Levis Mitsubishi. Other prizes include televisions, DVD players, home surround systems and satellite systems.
Last season Rich Bisson won a Mitsubishi Montero Sport at the game to become the first person to win the car at Pack the PMAC.
“It is a wonderful event, not only for us as a team, but for the fans as well,” said LSU coach Sue Gunter. “It is like a giant party where a basketball game just happens to break out.”
LSU (15-5, 5-2 SEC) enters the game riding a four-game win streak while Auburn (14-9, 2-7) comes into the contest having lost nine of its last 11 after beginning the year 12-0. Auburn was ranked in the top 10 earlier in the season, but has since fallen out of the rankings.
“Auburn is a team that has a lot of talent,” Gunter said. “They are a team that is very capable of putting it all together and beating some very good teams. We have to be aggressive for 40 minutes and take the game to them.”
Gunter’s team, which has been fighting injury problems all season, will face another one as sophomore forward Ke-Ke Tardy has a sprained lateral collateral ligament in her left knee. Tardy has been averaging 14.0 points and 6.3 rebounds in her last seven games. She is probable for the game, but will most likely not start.
The Lady Tigers are expected to start 5-11 senior Stacey Newton (1.9 ppg, 1.7 rpg) in Tardy’s place. April Brown (11.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg), a 5-11 senior, will start at the other forward. LSU will use a three-guard line up with 5-9 freshman Doneeka Hodges (7.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg), 5-11 senior Angelia Crockett (3.1 ppg, 3.6 apg) and Ferdinand (20.8 ppg, 3.3 apg).
Auburn will counter with 6-2 senior, Shera Looney (7.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and 6-2 junior Lori Nero (13.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg) at the forwards and 5-10 senior Tasha Hamilton (13.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg), 5-5 junior Carol Smith (13.9 ppg, 2.9 apg) and LaRita Spencer (7.1 ppg, 5.7 apg) at the guards.
“Auburn is very balanced on offense which makes them tough to defend,” Gunter said. “Any one of their starters can step up and have a big game on any give night.”
The game will be televised on College Sports Southeast on tape delay and will be broadcast on Thurs., Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. It can be heard in Baton Rouge on WGTE 107.3-FM or on the internet at www.LSUsports.net.