BATON ROUGE — LSU will look to rebound from its toughest loss of the season on Thursday when it faces No. 10 Florida in Gainesville in a Southeastern Conference battle.
The Lady Tigers lost a heartbreaker to No. 2 Tennessee on Sunday when Michelle Snow hit a 12-foot turn-around jumper as the buzzer sounded to give the Lady Vols a 75-73 win in Baton Rouge on senior day.
“It is very important for us to come back from Sunday with a good performance,” said LSU coach Sue Gunter. “We would love to get that eighth conference win at Florida and give ourselves a good chance for that No. 4 seed at the SEC Tournament.”
Florida is coming off a tough loss as well as the Lady Gators fell to Mississippi State at home on Sunday. The Lady Bulldogs built an early lead and then held off a late Florida charge to earn a 79-75 win at the O’Connell Center.
“Florida is one of the premier teams in the country this season,” said Gunter. “They are coming off a tough loss, as are we, so this game is pivotal for both of us.”
The game can also be heard in Baton Rouge on WTGE 107.3-FM and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. It is not televised.
LSU leads the overall series 13-7 and has won three straight, including a 71-66 decision in Baton Rouge last year. The Lady Tigers won in Gainesville the last time the two met there, 80-71, in 1999.
Before LSU’s current three-game streak, Florida had won seven straight over the Lady Tigers.
The game features a match-up between two Naismith Finalists in LSU’s Marie Ferdinand and Florida’s Brandi McCain. The two are ranked third and fourth in the conference in scoring. McCain leads the SEC in three-pointers per game.
“There is no doubt that there will be two of the best players in the nation on the floor on Thursday night,” Gunter said. “Marie and Brandi are two players that have carried their teams to the next level all season long.”
LSU is expected to start 5-9 senior Ferdinand (20.7 ppg, 3.4 apg) and 5-11 senior Angelia Crockett (3.0 ppg, 3.6 apg) at the guards, 5-11 senior April Brown (11.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and 6-1 sophomore Ke-Ke Tardy (9.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg) at the forwards, and 5-11 junior DeTrina White (8.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg) at center.
Florida will counter with 6-1 junior Monique Cardenas (8.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg) and 6-2 junior Naomi Mobley (10.9 ppg, 9.2 rpg) at the forwards; 6-3 senior Tamara Stocks (11.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg) at center; and 5-3 junior McCain (19.6 ppg, 4.5 apg) and 5-5 senior Tombi Bell (12.5 ppg, 2.0 apg) at the guards.