LSU senior guard Allison Hightower is “not human when it comes to basketball workouts.”LSU coach Van Chancellor described the 2009 First-Team All-Southeastern Conference member and 2010 National Player of the Year candidate with those words Wednesday at LSU basketball media day, and he said the Lady Tigers will need to establish another scoring threat to go with Hightower and sophomore forward LaSondra Barrett to be successful.”When your best player is your hardest worker, you have a shot to win,” Chancellor said. “We’ll be in the mix [in the SEC], but where we’ll be will depend on finding a third scorer.”As far as who that third scorer might be, Chancellor listed a few possible options.”That’s a tough question,” Chancellor said. “It could be [sophomore forward] Taylor Turnbow, [junior guard] Katherine Graham or [sophomore forward] Courtney Jones. It’s going to have to be somebody we can go to when [Hightower and Barrett] aren’t scoring.”The Lady Tigers ended in a tie for second place in the SEC last season with a record of 19-11, 10-4, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament with a team that included six freshmen. Chancellor said it was “almost a miracle” for the Lady Tigers to perform as they did, but he said the team is ready to build on its strong finish.”We’re pumped up about this season,” Chancellor said. “We were very young last year, and we’re still pretty young with seven freshmen and sophomores. This team is fun to coach and a joy to be around.”Barrett, the 2008-2009 SEC Co-Freshman of the Year, said she has a greater mental grasp on the grind of playing an SEC schedule with a year of experience under her belt.”We started off slow last year and then picked it up,” Barrett said. “That’s going to do nothing but fuel us this year to not make the same mistakes of not finishing games. We have to bring it this year.” Chancellor said Hightower is not a natural vocal leader for the Lady Tigers, but he said she will continue to be an influence as the most experienced player on the team.Hightower led LSU in six statistical categories last season, and she is also on the 2010 Women’s John Wooden Award Watch List, college basketball’s highest honor.”Allison Hightower has done a wonderful job of leading them off the court,” Chancellor said. “I don’t think she’s going to be the emotional leader you see on the court, but she’s enough of a leader to really get us fired up. There’s no way not to follow what she does.”Barrett said she can detect Hightower’s burning goal to succeed in her final season.”I joked with her she needs to redshirt so she can play another year with me,” Barrett said. “This year you can see the hunger in Allison’s eyes. We have such a close            connection … and we don’t want to let her down.”
LSU lost only one senior from the 2008 squad, forward Kristen Morris. The Lady Tigers also lost then-freshman Ayana Dunning, who transferred to West Virginia. Two freshmen will join the Lady Tigers this season — Adrienne Webb and Bianca Lutley.Chancellor said Webb “has been an absolute surprise” on the offensive side, and he said Lutley is “a great passer who can shoot the ball.”But Chancellor said the main thing freshmen need to do on the college level is to change their mental approach.”Most of the time when freshmen come into the SEC, it’s in their minds,” he said. “How well do you think you can play when you go to Knoxville, Tenn., in front of 14,000? You have to believe you can play. They’re not used to practicing like we’re about to practice here.”—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]