Roaring Into The Postseason: LSU Women's Basketball

#12/#12 Georgia routs #22/#28 LSU 71-53 before a crowd of 5,215...snapping LSU's 7-game win streak and knocking the Tigers out of the SECT in Georgia

Georgia improves to 25-5

LSU falls to 20-11

LSUWomensBasketball @LSUwbkb
Mark your calendars Monday, March
18, NCAA Selection Monday 6pm CT
on ESPN. @LSUwbkb will earn an at
large NCAA Tourney bid.

 

Les Miles started his press conference yesterday by saying:

"First of all, I would like to congratulate Nikki Caldwell. In her first two seasons, two NCAA opportunities, again, women's basketball is in good position."

 

NCAAT: here's what LSU, currently ranked #26/NR, is looking at should they win out...


Mar 24 -- Game 1 Baton Rouge -- P-MAC -- #20/#20 Green Bay

Mar 26 -- Game 2 Baton Rouge -- P-MAC -- #8/#8 Penn State or NR Cal Poly

Mar 30 -- Game 3 Spokane, WA* -- SWEET SIXTEEN -- #6/#6 Cal, #31/NR USF, NR Texas Tech, or NR Fresno State

Apr 01 -- Game 4 Spokane, WA* -- ELITE EIGHT -- #4/#4 Stanford, #13/#14 Georgia, #23/#23 Iowa State, #28/#31 Gonzaga, #34/NR Villanova, NR Michigan, NR Tulsa, or NR Montana

Apr 07 -- Game 5 New Orleans -- FINAL FOUR

Apr 09 -- Game 6 New Orleans -- CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

*The Spokane, WA location is at Gonzaga, in their basketball arena

 

potentially having to play Penn State in the PMAC for the NCAAT 2nd Round is just like last year all over again... remember this girl who had quite the animated personality (taunting our fans, etc), Maggie Lucas? she scored 30 on us last year and is leading Penn State with 20.5 ppg this season

 

Both will be televised live by ESPN2 (and ESPN3.com)

LSU students are admitted free of charge with student ID

Single-day tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for youth. 10 or more tickets is $5 apiece

 

here's the 5 largest crowds in the P-MAC for the Women's Basketball Team this season:

2013 PMAC (Womens)
6,773 -- 02/24/13 -- #4/#5 Kentucky
6,402 -- 02/04/13 -- #14/#16 Texas A&M
5,676 -- 02/10/13 -- #9/#10 Georgia
5,492 -- 01/20/13 -- Vanderbilt
5,269 -- 02/28/13 -- Alabama

 

Nikki Caldwell on Green Bay:

"When you look at Green Bay they are going to be a team that is skilled every year. They are well coached and will have the discipline to run their action. They are a very unselfish team when you look at their assist to turn over ratio. They shoot the three ball and they make a lot of them. We have been plagued in that area at times. We are at team that plays a match-up zone so we have to be conscious where they are."


Green Bay's best two girls are:

senior G Adrian Ritchie (13.6 ppg), a 2012-2013 All-Horizon League First Team and All-Defensive Team selection

senior F Sarah Eichler (11.4 ppg), a 2012-2013 All-Horizon League 2nd Team and First Team All-Defensive Team selection


G Adrian Ritchie


F Sarah Eichler

 

pretty nice speech by Nikki Caldwell on LSU in the NCAAT:

"There is only going to be one champion crowned. It is zero to zero when you start out with your record. It is six games and...this time of year, it is about who's the tougher team. It is about the more focused team. It is about who gets the loose ball. It is about who can sit in their stance a little lower than they have been. It is about the team that cuts hard and makes the pass and is unselfish. It is about which team at time outs is jogging to the bench as opposed to walking. One thing about our team is we have what it takes and in the same breathe so does Green Bay. We had the opportunity to talk about how you can will your way through a tournament and you may not be the most talented or the biggest, but your heart needs to beat a little bit harder and faster than your opponent."

"I told them you are not at LSU just to play through a season. LSU is rich in tradition. What Sue Gunter and the coaches she was able to assemble have done and the players and the sweat equity that they have put into this program, it would be an insult for us not to be representing LSU on a national level."

"I am extremely excited about this team...We are a team that has gone through a lot, but we are also a team that has rallied and been there for each other"

"When we talk about our slogan, Eight is enough" we do feel that eight is enough."

"everyone has to do their part."

--"Adrienne Webb and Anne Pedersen have to knock down wide-open shots."

--"If Jeanne Kenney has the opportunity to make plays she needs to do so."

--"Bianca Lutley needs to be ready to play off of the shots"

--"Danielle Ballard really needs to be that player that can do a little bit of everything for us."

--"Shanece McKinney...has been our defensive stopper on the low block"

--"On the offensive side for us, we go as Theresa Plaisance goes. We know that she has got to have the touches and she has to have the looks.

--"Derreyal Youngblood has come in and given us great minutes."

 

LSU (20-11) returns to the friendly confines of the Maravich Center where it is 13-3 this season and 14-3 all-time in NCAA contests. The Lady Tigers, making their 22nd all-time NCAA appearance, also own a 14-game first round winning streak that dates back to 1997.

To continue its first round success, LSU will have to do it against one of the nation’s hottest teams. Green Bay (29-2), ranked 20th in both the Associated Press and Coaches poll, has won 24 consecutive games and lost only four games in the past two seasons. All four of the Phoenix seniors have reached the NCAA Tournament in all four years of their careers.“They're a well coached team,” said LSU coach Nikki Caldwell. “You don't win consecutive games, 20 plus in a row and not be well coached and prepared. Two losses on the year, that's a pretty impressive record. ... They can shoot the three ball. We've got to be aware of that with the match up zone, we're going to have to extend our bigs.”

The Phoenix is annually among the nation’s leaders in scoring defense. This season has been no different as they are allowing only 48.1 points per game. Only twice this season has an opponent scored over 60 points on them.

coach Nikki Caldwell:
“There was a period during this season where we could have tanked,” she said. “They stayed the course. They matured. They grew together ... I've been around for a while where you can't read too much into the bracket. You just need to read into your team. What is in our control is how hard we are going to come out and play tomorrow, what's going to be our attitude? Are we going to have the spirit of a warrior?”

 

" Only twice this season
has an opponent scored over 60 points on
them."

LSU up 71-66 with under 2 min left