BATON ROUGE — Coming off their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the last five seasons, the LSU women’s basketball team is ranked as high as 12th nationally by womenscollegehoops.com, title sponsor for the Lady Tigers’ Crawfish Classic Tournament in late November, and Lindy’s entering the 2001-02 season. In addition, the Lady Tigers are ranked 24th in the Basketball America preseason poll.
“It’s always nice to see us ranked by several national polls even though the preseason polls are mostly for our fans to see how we compare nationally,” said Lady Tiger head coach Sue Gunter. “This season we go from being not ranked at all by some publications to being ranked as high as 12th, so I think most people understand that the preseason poll is just a piece of paper that tries to predict how teams will fair during the season and that our team is still going to have to go out and prove itself on the court.
“With a team as young as ours with only five returning players, we are still a mystery to most and it will take some time to know just how good we are, but I think it makes a statement about how far our program has come and where it is now that we are ranked as high as 12th even after losing three of our five starters from last season.”
Forward DeTrina White, the lone Lady Tiger senior, was one of 30 players listed on the preseason Naismith Player of the Year Award watch list.
The Naismith Award is handed out annually to the top collegiate basketball player in the nation by the Atlanta Tipoff Club at the conclusion of the season. In three years at LSU, White is averaging almost 12 points and over eight rebounds per game for her career and has recorded 25 double-doubles.
Junior transfer Aiysha Smith was named one of the top 21 new players of impact for the 2001-02 season by womenscollegehoops.com. The Kodak Junior College All-American averaged over 14 points and nine rebounds at Tyler Junior College last season. As a freshman at St. John’s, she started all but four games and led her team in rebounding and blocked shots. She was also ranked in the top 15 in rebounding, scoring and free throw percentage in the Big East Conference. The 6-2 center will give LSU an added size and presence in the paint that the Lady Tigers have not have in recent years.
LSU opens the 2001-02 season at home against the Jackson All-Stars in an exhibition game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The regular season opens against Grambling on Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.