EUGENE, Ore. — LSU’s third-ranked Lady Tigers, the No. 1 seed in the West Region of the 2003 NCAA Tournament, play No. 16 seed Southwest Texas State in the first round on Saturday at approximately 11:36 p.m. CST at the University of Oregon’s McArthur Court. Take a look at the Photo Gallery from the third day in Eugene.
The Lady Tigers learned late Friday evening that the game would be pushed back one hour to accomodate television, thus starting at past 9:30 p.m. local time.
LSU (27-3) is in the tournament as the automatic bid from the Southeastern Conference after winning the Sec Tournament two weeks ago in Little Rock, Ark. SWT (18-13) received the automatic after winning the Southland Conference tournament less than a week ago. The Bobcats have won seven straight games.
The Lady Tigers are in their 13th NCAA Tournament and their fifth straight. SWT is making their second trip to the Big Dance and the first since 1997. LSU owns a 13-12 record in the tournament, including winning the first-round game in each of the last five tournament appearances. The Bobcats are 0-1 in the tournament, falling to Texas in the opening round in 1997.
National Freshman of the Year Seimone Augustus leads LSU into the tournament. The Baton Rouge native is averaging 15.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, while All-Southeastern Conference performer Aiysha Smith is scoring 13.0 points and grabbing 5.6 rebounds per contest.
Tori Talbert, the Southland Conference Player of the Year, leads the Bobcats, scoring 15.9 points and pulling down 12.1 boards per outing. She was also the SLC Tournament MVP, leading SWT to victories over Texas-Arlington, Stephen F. Austin and Texas-San Antonio.
This will be the second meeting between two schools this season. LSU defeated SWT 91-40 in Baton Rouge on Dec. 21. Since that win, the Lady Tigers have posted an 18-3 record, while SWT is 17-6 in that same span.
The Lady Tigers and Bobcats have met three times prior to this postseason game. LSU leads the series 2-1, including this victory earlier this season.
No. 8 seed and 20th-ranked Wisconsin-Green Bay plays No. 9 seed Washington in the other first-round at McArthur Court in Saturday at 6:06 p.m. CST. The winner of LSU’s game and the UWGB/Washington game will meet in the second round on Monday at a time to be determined.
Quotes from Friday afternoon’s press conference:
Southwest Texas coach Suzanne Fox
“Our defensive intensity and our pressure on the ball has really picked up. We’ve also had some changes in the starting rotation of our lineup which gives us a little bit of an advantage against a team like LSU that has a little bit of size on us.”
“We had a point early in the season when we were at a low point, we were going to be out for the count or we were going to get up off the mat and go play. We responded and found ways to get it done. I think that made our players and our coaches stronger.”
Southland Conference Player of the Year and Tournament MVP Tori Talbert
“We’re really excited about having another opportunity to play LSU. We didn’t do a very good job the first time. We’re a completely different team than we were in December. I think they’re going to be surprised.”
LSU coach Sue Gunter
“I don’t think we’re thinking a lot about seeds. Once you’ve got it, that’s terrific. You’re six wins away from a national championship, but you’re only playing one game at a time.”
“We haven’t really looked backward and we haven’t really looked forward, we’ve only looked at the present. And the present is Southwest Texas, that’s the only thing we do do anything about, period. The season’s over, and this is the second season. I think we’ll handle that well.”
“Looking back to Southwest Texas, in the past 19 games that they’ve played I think they’re 15-4. The last 10 games of the season, they’re 9-1. In the last seven games of the season, they’re 7-0. So, they’ve really come on very, very well and finished up extremely strong. You just don’t look back. That’s all history, and so is the Tennessee game (in the SEC Tournament Final) for that matter. You don’t further unless you handle Southwest Texas. Another thing that we learned a long time ago is that you must respect your opponent. If you don’t it’s literally the kiss of death.”
“We could be a little rusty because we haven’t played in a while, but I don’t think we’ll be overconfident.”
“They’re playing with more confidence. They kindof took it on the chin earlier in the year. When we played them early in the year, I think they had a couple players were sick and they weren’t playing at full strength. At this particular point in time, they’re just a better team. I think winning bring on winning. Their confidence is very high, as it should be.”
Senior forward Ke-Ke Tardy
“This is my fourth time around, and we have some people on the team that are on their fourth or fifth time around. At this stage of the game, everyone’s going to play hard. Those teams with experience and those teams that are going to come out and execute well with that senior leadership are the ones that are going to be able to get over the hump more easily than that have the young talent.”
Junior point guard Temeka Johnson
“I’m getting used to the time (change) now. The first day I was here at 6:30 in the morning thinking it was 8:30 and I had class at that time … I woke up and looked at the clock and said ‘What am I doing?’ My body was telling me it was 8:30, but my eyes were saying 6:30 so I was going back to sleep. I’ve gotten used to it and I’m ready to play. The fans at home are not going to worry about what time we play.”