Women’s basketball head coach Sue Gunter has a variety of different feelings as her No. 3 Lady Tigers start the season on the road against a formidable Arizona Lady Wildcats team at 8 p.m. CST tonight.
“Apprehensive,” Gunter said. “A little nervous. Anxious. But it’s time to play. Arizona is a good team, and I think we’re going to be tested severely right off the bat. We’re certainly nowhere we need to be when we get into conference play; that’s why you play a non-conference schedule.”
The Lady Tigers’ current No. 3 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 (No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Today poll)is the highest ranking for LSU since 1978.
Arizona was 14-14 last season, but returns as seven letter winners. The Lady Wildcats won both exhibition games they played.
After playing two exhibition games and winning both by scores of 113-60 and 90-45, LSU is ready to play a game that will mean something in the standings.
“I think this is going to be a big game for us, a big test to see where we are,” said junior forward Doneeka Hodges. “We’re playing against a good team to open up the season. We just come in here every day to do the things we need to do to be able to compete against Arizona. I think we’re going to be pretty good. [In the] exhibition game we were trying to work on some things. This is the real test.”
For its last exhibition game, LSU started Hodges and Aiysha Smith at the forward spots, Temeka Johnson and freshman sensation Seimone Augustus at the guard spots and DeTrina White at center.
It will not be a surprise if Gunter sticks with this lineup, despite the fact White is coming off two injury-filled seasons.
Augustus has not disappointed thus far in her college career, leading the Lady Tigers in scoring in each of the two exhibition games.
However, Johnson said she hopes the team has been able to get some of its struggles out of the way in practice before tonight’s opener.
“I know for a fact we’ll be prepared for them, it’s just going to take us coming out ready to play,” she said. “It’s a good team. We’re one. There’s no ‘I’, it’s all of us. One of the challenges we’re going to have to face is going to their gym, at their place with their crowd. We have to come out focused and come ready to play, just concentrate on what we have to do out there.”
Gunter, who was critical of the team’s performance in the beginning of each half in the last exhibition game, said despite the high ranking and hype surrounding the team, there still are things the Lady Tigers will have to improve.
“I just don’t think we executed as well as I wanted us to execute,” Gunter said. “I think it’s been better. We’re still not as clean as we need to be. We’re not as mentally tough as we need to be. We’re not playing with as much discipline as we’re going to have to play with. But I can’t expect all of that to be perfect at this time of the year.”
The storyline of this team was different. Last year the “Magnificent Seven,” as they were called, found a way to advance into the second round of the NCAA Tournament, with just two available bench players.
This could give Gunter headaches when it comes to getting everybody on the team for a good amount of minutes.
“I think all things being equal, you’d love to give everybody a whole lot of minutes, but that’s just not possible in this game,” Gunter said. “I think these kids understand their roles.”