by Bill Martin, Associate Sports Information Director
BATON ROUGE -- One of the premier non-conference games of the college basketball season takes centerstage on Wednesday as the No. 7 LSU Lady Tigers (1-0) play host to No. 24 Middle Tennessee (1-0) at 7 p.m. CST in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
“We have a great challenge ahead of us tomorrow night,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “We will have to prove ourselves. I know for a fact that Middle Tennessee is vastly underrated. They feature one of the four or five best players in the country in Alysha Clark. I don’t think there is any doubt.”
The game will be televised live by Cox Sports Television (cable channel 37 in Baton Rouge). Lyn Rollins (play-by-play) and Victor Howell (analyst) handle the call. The contest will also be carried on the LSU Sports Radio Network in Baton Rouge on 107.3 FM. Patrick Wright and Jeff Palermo call the action.
Live streaming video and audio is also available to members of the Geaux Zone on www.LSUsports.net.
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. LSU schedule magnets will be distributed to fans upon entrance to the Maravich Center.
For a complete schedule of future promotions, visit www.JumpOnTheVanWagon.com.
LSU is coming off a record-setting performance in its 92-19 season-opening victory over Centenary on Sunday. Centenary’s 19 points tied for the fewest allowed by LSU in a game in school history and the fewest since holding Alabama State to 19 points on Dec. 7, 2002.
The 73-point margin of victory was the second largest in school history, and LSU eclipsed the 90-point mark for the first time since scoring 105 points against Eastern Washington on Nov. 25, 2006. LSU’s highest point total all of last season was 75 against Middle Tennessee in November.
LSU was dominant on both ends of the floor against Centenary. Senior guard Allison Hightower, who was named an ESPN.com Preseason All-American this week, scored 15 of her 20 points in the first half. She and the rest of the starters remained on the bench most of the second half.
Hightower topped the 20-point mark for the seventh time in her career and the third straight game dating back to the final two contests of the 2008-09 season. She scored 26 against Green Bay in the NCAA Tournament first round and followed that up with 21 points versus Louisville in the second round.
It represented the first time an LSU player had reached the 20-point plateau in three straight games since Sylvia Fowles did it against Michigan State, Maryland and Louisiana-Lafayette in November of 2007.
Chancellor plans to use the same lineup he did against Centenary. However, several Lady Tiger reserves saw significant action in the first contest. He complimented the play of freshman guard Adrienne Webb who had five points and two steals in her debut. Webb has proved to be a threat from 3-point range.
“Most freshmen when they come in here, if they miss a shot they don’t want to shoot it anymore,” he said. “They mess up and you kind of challenge them a little bit and they go into a shell. Not Adrienne. In her first live game she blocked a shot and the first time she touched a ball on offense she hit a three. That kind of mental toughness is hard to gauge.”
The LSU-Middle Tennessee rivalry has played to a 2-2 tie in the four meetings between the teams. The Blue Raiders have won two straight against the Lady Tigers, including a 79-75 margin in the Maravich Center on Nov. 30 last season.
Middle Tennessee features the nation’s returning leading scorer in forward Alysha Clark, who projects to be one of the top three draft picks in the WNBA. Clark averaged 27.5 points per game last season and racked up 32 points and 15 rebounds in the Blue Raiders’ 78-53 win over Central Florida.
“Clark is unbelievable,” Chancellor said. “They have some coaches that like to blow smoke, but I am not one of those coaches that likes to blow smoke to make an opponent seem better than they really are. She will be one of the top three players in the draft. She shoots the three ball, she puts it on the floor, and she is a good low post player too.
Clark dropped 37 points against LSU last season as Middle Tennessee overcame a double-digit second half deficit. Hightower had 19 points but the Lady Tigers comeback attempt in the final minute fell short as the Blue Raiders iced the game at the free throw line.
Middle Tennessee returns all five starters from that game. They are coached by fifth-year head coach Rick Insell. The Blue Raiders were eliminated by Michigan State in the 2009 NCAA Tournament First Round.
“This is the kind of game that can really help you NCAA wise or it can bury you to where you have to come back and win almost six games,” Chancellor said. “I think this is a game that if you do win it is going to mean a lot to everything. We are about trying to get our kids to reach their potential and play as best as they can every night. “
Wednesday night’s tilt is the first of three for LSU this week. The Lady Tigers play back-to-back games against Houston and Nicholls State on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Saturday’s game is slated for noon CST, while Sunday’s contest tips at 7:30 p.m.
For more information on LSU women’s basketball:
Website: www.JumpOnTheVanWagon.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/LSUCoachStarkey
Blog: http://lsuladytigerway.blogspot.com
