BATON ROUGE — For the fourth straight year, the Lady Tiger basketball team finished the season ranked in the top 25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll, concluding the season ranked No. 22 nationally.
The Lady Tigers also finished the season ranked No. 22 in the AP poll, making LSU one of only two Southeastern Conference schools and one of only eight programs in the country to be ranked in both final polls in each of the last four years.
SEC rival Tennessee, along with national champion Connecticut, Duke, Louisiana Tech, Purdue, Texas Tech and Old Dominion are the only other schools to accomplish this feat.
“This is such a wonderful thing for our program,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “This team had to overcome so many obstacles this season and to finish the season ranked in the top 25 shows just how determined these players were that we succeed despite hardships that they encountered during the season.
“To be ranked in the both the AP and the coaches polls at the end of the year for the last four years also speaks to the consistency of our program and to the accomplishments of Lady Tiger basketball of the last few years.”
For the fourth straight season, the Lady Tigers advanced to the NCAA Tournament. As a sixth seed, LSU defeated 13th-seeded Santa Clara in the first round but fell to third-seeded Colorado in the second round.
The Lady Tigers posted three wins over top 25 teams in 2001-02. LSU defeated then-No. 18 Florida by 25 points, the Gators’ worst loss at that point in the season. The Lady Tigers also defeated No. 6 South Carolina at home and No. 3 Tennessee in the SEC Tournament semifinal game.
ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll (Final)
1. Connecticut
2. Oklahoma
3. Tennessee
4. Duke
5. Vanderbilt
6. South Carolina
7. Old Dominion
8. Stanford
9. Colorado
10. Kansas State
11. North Carolina
12. Texas Tech
13. Texas
14. Purdue
15. Baylor
16. Iowa State
17. BYU
18. Penn State
19. Louisiana Tech
20. Drake
21. Minnesota
22. LSU
23. Cincinnati
24. Colorado State
25. TCU
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Boston College; Florida; Mississippi State; Arkansas; Florida International; Georgia; Iowa; Arizona State; Notre Dame; UC-Santa Barbara; Tulane; Indiana; Liberty; Villanova; Virginia; Oregon; Wisconsin-Green Bay; Houston; Wisconsin; Clemson; North Texas; UNLV; Creighton; Virginia Tech; St. Peter’s; Pepperdine.