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NO. 20 LSU LADY TIGERS HOST NO. 14 GEORGETOWN IN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL HOME OPENER
BATON ROUGE – After
opening the Nikki Caldwell era with a road win at Wichita State, an
early season match-up of ranked teams will take centerstage at 7 p.m.
Wednesday as the 20th-ranked LSU women’s basketball team battles No. 14
Georgetown in the 2011-12 home opener in the Pete Maravich Assembly
Center.
The game will be carried live on the LSU Sports Radio
Network on 107.3 WBRP-FM in Baton Rouge. Live streaming HD audio and
video is available to members of the Geaux Zone at
www.LSUsports.net/live.
The first 1,000 fans in attendance
Wednesday will receive a free signed Nikki Caldwell mini basketball.
Two LSU-Arkansas football tickets will be given away at halftime. In
addition, the first 200 LSU students in attendance will receive free
nachos.
It will be a student priority point night and
admission for LSU students is free of charge. Adult general admission
tickets cost $6 and youth general admission tickets are $3. Tickets are
available online at www.LSUtix.net. On gameday, tickets go on sale at
the Maravich Center ticket office at 5:30 p.m.
Fans are
invited to listen to Caldwell’s LSU Sports Radio Network postgame
interview, which will be piped into the public address system following
every game this season.
LSU (1-0) faces a quick turnaround
after gutting out a 64-56 season-opener win over the Shockers in
Wichita on Monday night. The Lady Tigers shot a blistering 61.5 percent
from the floor and were 8-of-12 from three-point range. LaSondra
Barrett and Jeanne Kenney led the way with 16 points apiece. LSU
committed 22 turnovers and Caldwell says the Lady Tigers need to do a
better job taking care of the basketball.
“Our issue was not
necessarily scoring the basketball, because when we did take care of
the basketball we scored at a high percentage against Wichita State,”
said Caldwell. “Our issue is that we need make sure we take care of the
basketball. To me that means being mentally focused, making for sure
passes and eliminating the air passes. We are getting picked off too
much with the air passes.”
Caldwell welcomes the challenge of
opening up the home slate against a Big East powerhouse team in
Georgetown that is ranked 14th by the Associated Press and 16th in the
USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll. The Hoyas (1-1) return 12 letterwinners
from a squad that nearly knocked off Connecticut in last year’s NCAA
Tournament Elite Eight round.
“This is a game where we are
going to be able to see if we have grown, if we have learned from the
last game and the last practice,” said Caldwell. “This is a postseason
team we are playing. This is a team that has been to NCAA tournaments.
This is a team with experience, different offensive weapons and that
plays a very aggressive defense. It is going to be a good test for us
early on. The fact we are playing in and representing the SEC and have
the opportunity to play a Big East team is a great game for us as a
conference.”
The Hoyas feature junior guard Sugar Rodgers, a
State Farm Wade Trophy candidate, who averaged 18.7 points per game
last season. Senior forward Tia Magee is the team’s current leading
scorer through two games with 8.7 points per contest. Georgetown has
struggled offensively, shooting just 33.3 percent in a 72-53 loss at
No. 9 Maryland on Sunday.
Barrett heads into the home opener
as the 22nd leading scorer in LSU history with 1,134 points. Kenney is
coming off her best game as a Lady Tiger after dishing out five assists
and burying 4-of-5 from three-point range against the Shockers.
LSU
and Georgetown are meeting for just the second time. The Lady Tigers
won the only meeting between the two teams, 97-59, in the Converse
Christmas Classic in Blacksburg, Va., on Dec. 20, 1983. The Lady Tigers
are 59-9 in non-conference home games dating back to the 2002-03
season.
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