The NCAA tournament has arrived, and senior guard Allison Hightower told the LSU women’s basketball team Tuesday she’s not ready to go home.LSU sophomore forward LaSondra Barrett took Hightower’s message to heart, and she said the team does not want to disappoint their most veteran player.The No. 7-seeded Lady Tigers (20-9, 9-7 Southeastern Conference) begin their NCAA tournament journey Saturday at 11:06 a.m. against No. 10 seed Hartford (27-4, 16-0 America East) in the first matchup of the Memphis Region in Durham, N.C.”We all have that mentality, from the last person on the bench to the first five on the court,” Barrett said. “It brought chills to me because [Hightower] was really emotional about it. It shows how much she’s meant to the game and this program and how much impact she has on her teammates.”The Lady Tigers have not played a game since their 63-61 loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament March 5. Hightower said the break has enabled the team to counter Hartford’s powerful post play and outside shooting.”We have to make sure we are … staying disciplined,” Hightower said. “We have to block out every single time, and we can’t be hedging the ball screens and fouling jump shooters.”LSU coach Van Chancellor knows the weapons Hartford brings to the court. Hartford coach Jennifer Rizzotti was a point guard for the 2000 Houston Comets when Chancellor was the coach.Chancellor called Rizzotti “a joy to have,” and he said the Hawks reflect her coaching style more than any team LSU has faced so far.”I remember running through the Los Angeles Sparks’ plays, and Jennifer knew them better than they did,” Chancellor said. “We were in the championship rounds against the Sparks, and I could call out play seven, and Jennifer would already know it. This team has her attitude, spitfire, hustling, scrapping and fighting.”Chancellor said Hartford will know where to exploit the Lady Tigers’ defensive weaknesses. The Hawks boast the America East Player of the Year in senior forward Diana Delva, who ranks No. 2 in the nation with 65 percent in field goals for the season.”They have a great low-post presence and shoot the 3-ball well,” Chancellor said. “Those are the two things we struggled with on defense all year. They’re not going to beat themselves.”No. 25 Hartford and No. 21 LSU are the only top 25 teams to go head-to-head in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Both teams are top 10 in the nation in scoring defense — Hartford at No. 3 with 50.1 points allowed per game and LSU at No. 6 with 52.1 points allowed.Barrett said associate head coach Bob Starkey has been aggressively coaching the team about containing the Hawks in the post.”[Starkey has] been going over really detailed how good their post players are at stealing and beating us inside,” Barrett said. “That’s one thing where, as post players, we have to lock in and do a better job than what we’ve done, especially after the Vanderbilt loss.”The Lady Tigers did not have the task of winning on the road in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, as the first two rounds were played in Baton Rouge. But Chancellor said the road atmosphere won’t bother LSU.”We try to make a road game in the playoffs similar to when we play a road game in the SEC,” Chancellor said. “We don’t try to talk about road games. We just talk about playing basketball games. We’ve played at Nebraska in front of a packed house, and you can’t play in a more hostile environment than Tennessee.”If LSU defeats Hartford on Saturday, the Lady Tigers will take on the winner of No. 2 seed Duke against No. 15 Hampton.____Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]