BATON ROUGE — The 14th-ranked LSU women’s basketball team will attempt to snap its three-game losing streak on Sunday at 1 p.m. when it faces South Carolina in a critical Southeastern Conference battle.
The game has major SEC Tournament implications as the Lady Tigers need a win, along with a Georgia win over Vanderbilt to clinch fourth place in the conference and a bye in the first round of the tournament.
An LSU (17-9, 7-6 SEC) loss would relegate the Lady Tigers to the No. 6 seed in the tournament as South Carolina (11-15, 6-7) would then take over the fifth spot.
“There is no question about it. This game is absolutely huge for us,” said LSU coach Sue Gunter. “Getting a bye in the SEC Tournament would be great for us right now. A win on Sunday will also still give us a chance to host an (NCAA) Regional.”
The game can be heard on the radio in the Baton Rouge area on WGTE 107.3-FM and on the internet at www.LSUsports.net. It will not be televised.
Both teams enter the game coming off a loss. LSU fell to No. 10 Florida on Thursday night, 67-59, in Gainesville. The Lady Gamecocks dropped a heart-breaker to Kentucky, 61-59, last Sunday. They have had a week off since then.
“South Carolina has been a dangerous team in conference play,” Gunter said. “They are one of those teams that may not have the best record, but can still come out and whip you if you aren’t ready to play. They will be ready to go to try to get that seventh SEC win.”
LSU is expected to start 5-9 senior Marie Ferdinand (20.3 ppg, 3.4 apg) and 5-11 senior Angelia Crockett (2.9 ppg, 3.3 apg) at the guards; 6-1 sophomore Ke-Ke Tardy (9.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg) and 5-11 senior (12.0 ppg, 4.7rpg) April Brown at the forwards and 5-11 junior DeTrina White (9.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg) at center.
South Carolina will counter with a three-guard line up that features 5-10 freshman Nihan Anaz (8.9 ppg, 2.4 apg), 5-9 freshman Cristina Ciocan (2.7 ppg, 2.3 apg) and 6-1 junior Shauzinski Gortman (11.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg) in the backcourt. The frontcourt is a big one with 6-4 sophomore Petra Ujelyi (8.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and 6-4 junior Teresa Geter (11.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg) at the forwards.