BATON ROUGE -- Fans will have a chance to get an early look at the 2009-10 LSU women’s basketball team as the ninth-ranked Lady Tigers play host to Loyola-New Orleans in their only exhibition game of the season at 7 p.m. CST Tuesday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Live video is available in the Geaux Zone on www.LSUsports.net. There will be no radio broadcast to accompany the live video for the game. Follow the online in-game blog at http://lsuladytigerway.blogspot.com.

Tickets are on sale and cost $10 for lower and prime middle seating, $8 for middle seating, $6 for adult general admission and $3 for youth general admission. Admission for LSU students is free.

Head coach Van Chancellor enters his third season at LSU and welcomes back nine letterwinners and four starters from his 2009 NCAA Tournament team. At this point last year, LSU was welcoming nine new faces, and Chancellor says the team is a lot more experienced for a new season.

“This will give us a great indication of where we are and give us four or five days to work on it,” Chancellor said. “There is no question in my mind we are far advanced than we were at this point last year. We need to come out and play and see what we are doing well and what we need to work on. When you play an exhibition it’s like having a rehearsal before the big play. It’s a great measuring stick for the season.”

The Lady Tigers enter the season ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press preseason poll and No. 17 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Top 25. LSU has also been predicted to win the 2010 Southeastern Conference regular season title by a panel of regional and national media members. The Lady Tigers finished second in the league last season and compiled a 19-11 overall record.

LSU is expected to start senior guard Allison Hightower, junior point guard Latear Eason, junior guard Katherine Graham and sophomore forwards Taylor Turnbow and Courtney Jones. Hightower is one of two seniors on the squad and she is the 2010 SEC Preseason Player of the Year. She averaged 14.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game as a junior.

Hightower, Eason and Graham started the final 11 games together last season. Turnbow is coming off a freshman campaign in which she was one of the best shotblockers in the SEC. She ranked 12th in the league in that category a season ago (1.0 bpg). Graham was the team’s leading rebounder with 5.0 per contest while chipping in 5.5 points per game.

“We want to make sure we play as hard as we can tomorrow night,” Hightower said. “We want to improve in all areas, play aggressive and use this to get ready for the season opener.”

Loyola is coming off of its third straight GCAC championship and is ranked 21st in the NAIA preseason poll. The Wolfpack are favored to repeat as conference champions. They are led by preseason NAIA All-Americans Trenese and Trenell Smith, who averaged 18.2 and 14.6 points per game, respectively last season.

Loyola is coached by second-year head coach Kellie Kennedy, a former assistant for 10 seasons at Tulane.

LSU officially opens the season on Sunday, Nov. 15 against Centenary. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. CST in the Maravich Center.

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