LSU officially opens its 30th season of women’s basketballagainst Maine in the Women’s Sports Foundation Tip-offClassic in PMAC at 7 p.m.
The winner of the LSU/Maine game will take on either Virginia orArizona State Friday at 7 p.m. in the championship game. The losersplay at 5 p.m. in the consolation game.
LSU coach Pokey Chatman will coach her first official game forthe Lady Tigers, although she was 15-5 as interim coach last year.Chatman said the team will look to run the floor more in this gameand will get a good defensive effort from Maine.
“It’s a test for us,” Chatman said.”It’s not a big deal for Maine to come to LSU. Theyalways have someone big on their schedule. There’s no fearfactor there for them; they’re confident.”
LSU (No. 2 USA Today/ESPN, No. 3 Associated Press) won its loneexhibition game, 78-70 on Nov. 2. Augustus led the Lady Tigers with28 points and freshman center Sylvia Fowles had 20 points and 10rebounds.
Augustus, recently tabbed as the AP Preseason Player of theYear, said the team is excited about opening the season at home forthe first time in three years.
“I’m excited to see where we’re at as a team,and knowing it’s for real this time,” said junior guardSeimone Augustus. “It means a lot to us [to open the seasonat home] because we’ve got a lot of games on the road thisyear, so to open up at home and let our fans see what we have is abig plus for us and will give us a boost to start theyear.”
Fowles said the players are eager to get the season started andimprove upon the exhibition performance, where the team committed22 turnovers.
“This is step one for me, and I’m just looking to bemore patient out there,” Fowles said. “It’s athinking game now. It’s not like high schoolanymore.”
The Lady Tigers face Maine for only the second time ever. TheLady Tigers defeated the Black Bears 88-79 in the first round ofthe 1997 NCAA Tournament in the PMAC.
The Black Bears are the defending America East Conferencechampions, but lost Heather Ernest and Melissa Heon, the top twoscorers from last year’s squad.
Augustus said defending against Maine’s transition gamewill be key for the Lady Tigers. She said not letting them get tothe goal and limiting their free-throw attempts is the main goal ondefense.
“They run up and down the court and get the ball our intransition,” Augustus said. “They run the shot clockdown and drive to the basket, so they draw a lot of fouls. We justhave to be careful about how we play defensively.”
Senior forward Monica Peterson (7.4 points, 5.9 rebounds) andsenior guards Missy Traversi (7.7 points) and Kim Corbett (5.9points) are the top returners from this year’s team, whichdefeated Spartak Moscow 93-60 in an exhibition game.
Chatman said Maine will do a lot of things similar to LSU on thefloor, and it will be hard to get them out of their usualrhythm.
“They’re real methodical in their approach,”Chatman said. “You can tell they take a lot of time to set upwhat they do. A lot of times, you’re used to going up againsta post player that’s not a good passer, but that’s notthe case with them. They’re going to get in their sets andrun, but they’ll make some mistakes, so it’s importantfor us not to give them easy baskets.”