BATON ROUGE — The LSU Lady Tigers, ranked No. 21 in the first ESPN/USA Today coaches poll released on Monday, open the 2001-02 season against the Jackson All-Stars at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in an exhibition contest in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Jackson All-Stars are a team of 13 former collegiate players, mostly from Mississippi, including former Mississippi State forward Evette Porter.
“We are excited about playing someone other than ourselves,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter, entering her 20th season with the Lady Tigers with a record of 367-197. “We are tired of practicing and are eager to see some new faces on the court.
“Even though this is just an exhibition game, the Jackson All-Stars are made up of quality players and should give us some good competition, which is something we were looking for when we scheduled them. We will use this game as a gauge to see just how far we have come, to see what things we do well and what things we need to improve on.”
LSU, which advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round last season, will host the Australian Institute of Sport team as part of the Basketball Travelers in its final exhibition game next Monday at 4:30 p.m. before opening the regular season the following Tuesday against Grambling at 7 p.m.
LSU’s success over the past five years has earned the Lady Tigers respect around the country, but with that respect comes raised expectations. LSU has proven itself with recent achievements including NCAA Tournament appearances in four of the past five years with three NCAA Sweet 16 appearances, one NCAA Elite Eight appearance, three straight NCAA Tournament bids and a national ranking as high as seventh.
However, the Lady Tigers are still searching for that elusive Final Four run.
This season, the Final Four is certainly within the Lady Tigers’ reach.
Despite losing three starters from a year ago, including Kodak All-American Marie Ferdinand, Gunter is confident in the talent that will take the court for LSU this season. The Lady Tigers return five players from last season including senior All-American and Naismith Award candidate DeTrina “D-Train” White, juniors Kisha James and Ke-Ke Tardy and sophomores Roneeka and Doneeka Hodges. A young team, led by White, will look to continue its streak of NCAA appearances and remain on track toward the Final Four and beyond.
With one of the best recruiting classes in school history, the Lady Tigers combine court-tested talent with a mix of raw skill that should give LSU one of the most balanced attacks it has had in years. The Lady Tigers bring in six newcomers this season including junior college transfers Aiysha Smith and Patty Hanten and freshmen Scholanda Dorrell, Wendlyn Jones, Florence Williams and Tillie Willis and will gain sophomore Temeka Johnson at the conclusion of the fall semester.
Averaging over 6-1,the front line for the Lady Tigers will be the tallest in more than four years, over two inches taller than last year’s team. While adding that height, LSU has not sacrificed athleticism, with players that can play tough underneath and still step out and shoot from the perimeter.
“Over the last few years, our frontcourt has been relatively small,” said Gunter. “We have proven that a team can compete with very athletic players that are under six-feet tall, but this season we add power and size to our frontline that we haven’t really seen in recent years and that gives us some options in the type of looks we send on the court.”
In the backcourt, the Lady Tigers have lacked a true three-point threat in recent years, hitting fewer than 100 from beyond the arch the past two seasons, but that is something that will change this year with the addition of Hanten.
“Despite losing one of the best guards in school history in Kodak All-American Marie Ferdinand, our overall perimeter shooting improves this season,” said Gunter. “We have brought in a true three-point shooter that will give us the outside threat that we have been lacking.
“Our depth is also something that we have this season that has been missing over the last few years. We really have outstanding talent throughout our lineup and that production does not drop off when you look at our bench.”
As an NCAA non-qualifier last season, Johnson will not be eligible until December and Williams will be unable to play this season as a partial NCAA qualifier. In addition, Roneeka Hodges will not dress out against the Jackson All-Stars because of injury and Tardy not play in the opener because of team rules violations.