Marjorie Robins has followed Lady Tiger basketball since the team played its first game in the PMAC in 1975.She has seen LSU legends like Maree Jackson, Joyce Walker and Seimone Augustus set all-time school marks.And the Baton Rouge native also watched Sunday as Notre Dame defeated LSU, 62-53, in the Lady Tigers’ first regular season game since the departure of former All-American center Sylvia Fowles, the team’s most recent record-breaker.LSU, which fell out of the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday for the first time since February 2002, lost a total of eight seniors from last year’s team, including Fowles and former All-Southeastern Conference guard Quianna Chaney, who averaged 14.4 points for the Lady Tigers last season.Robins said she didn’t know what to expect Sunday from LSU’s seven true freshmen.Almost 90 percent of the Lady Tigers’ offensive production from last season is no longer with the team, and it showed early in Sunday’s game.LSU quickly fell behind, 17-8, and it took the team nearly 13 minutes to reach double-digit points.But they caught fire to tie the score at 24 by halftime.After the Lady Tigers fought back from that rocky start, Robins said she feels confident about the season.”I am so proud of the way those young ladies played,” Robins said. “They’re going to be competitive this year.”The Lady Tigers shot just 33 percent against Notre Dame, but Robins believes the offense will take time to “get in synch.””For four years they’ve played ‘give-it-to-Fowles-in-the-post’ basketball,” Robins said. “If the ladies keep up the effort from [Sunday], the points will come.”Kaitlyn Louviere, biology junior, said she saw the tendency for players to stand around and watch junior guard Allison Hightower try to “do it all.”She said the freshmen need to step up and play.”They all got a chance to show what they can do,” Louviere said. “Right now there are a few [freshmen] who are about even. If one or two of them can step up to be a major contributor, I think we’ll do OK this season.”Jake Menard, 62, of Zachary, hasn’t missed a home game in 14 years and is less optimistic the LSU offense will fix itself.Menard said he thought LSU’s biggest weakness last season was the lack of a go-to outside shooter. And he didn’t see anything Sunday that changed his mind.”We still don’t,” Menard said. “We’ll start the season off with a pretty good record, but the second half of that schedule is tough. We could really struggle down the stretch.”The Lady Tigers don’t play a game outside of Louisiana until January, when LSU faces Connecticut in Hartford.Lifelong LSU fan Jason Walker, 44, believes talent isn’t the issue.”A team that’s made five straight Final Fours has to have a pretty good recruiting class,” said Walker, who brings his daughters, Lacey and  Lauren, to as many home games as he can. “There’s a reason LSU was still ranked in the top 25 even after losing Fowles.”Walker said the Lady Tigers are bound to have success nearly equal to that of the past few seasons.
 
 
 
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