NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Lady Tiger basketball team travels to Nashville, Tenn., for the 2002 Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament this weekend at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.
Entering the tournament as the fourth seed, LSU (15-10, 8-6 SEC) earned a first-round bye and will face Kentucky game on Friday at 6 p.m. The game will be televised in Baton Rouge on FoxSports Southwest, Cox Cable Channel 37.
“Tournament time is always and exciting time in the season,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “The conference tournament is the step between the regular season and hopefully the NCAA. I think it really gives us an opportunity to enhance our chances at a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but I don’t think it can really hurt us too much. It will be a very exciting event.”
The Lady Tigers are 2-0 against Mississippi State and Kentucky this season, defeating the Lady Bulldogs, 88-77, in Baton Rouge last week and topping Kentucky, 75-59 on the road in January.
“It is tough to prepare for this game because we don’t know who we are going to play,” said Gunter. “I think a lot of people are just assuming that we are going to play Mississippi State because Kentucky was last in the conference, but Kentucky is a very good team and anyone who can play to a tie with Tennessee at halftime in Knoxville is very talented.
Kentucky has improved a lot since we played them and they are playing well and if Mississippi State is overlooking them, Kentucky could come away with the win.
“We are trying not to focus on playing one team in particular,” Gunter continued. “We are just excited to play and no matter which team we play, they will know about as much about us as we know about them. It will come down to who goes out there ready to play and really wants to win.”
First-team All-SEC selection Aiysha Smith leads the Lady Tigers with 16.4 points and 7.9 rebounds a game. She has scored in double-figures in all 25 games this season and has recorded seven double-doubles.
Sophomore Doneeka Hodges is averaging 15 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. The second-team All-SEC selection also ranks seventh in assists by a sophomore in school history.
Louisiana Player of the Week Temeka Johnson leads the SEC in assists per game and ranks third nationally with 7.7 assists per game. The school single-game assist record holder, she is just 23 assists shy of the record for assists by a sophomore, despite having played in just 19 games.
If the Lady Tigers win their quarterfinal game, they will advance to the tournament semifinal game on Saturday at 6 p.m. They will face top-seeded Tennessee, Alabama or Georgia. That game will also be broadcast on FoxSports Southwest. The SEC Tournament Championship game will be played on Sunday at 7 p.m. and broadcast live on ESPN2.