HALL OF FAME THOUGHTS: ADRIENNE WEBB

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ADRIENNE WEBB:

Today was a really special day for me. We started the day with a visit to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (WBHOF) in Knoxville, TN. We learned about the history of Women’s Basketball, and saw the pictures of players and coaches who have been inducted over the years. Our own Coach Chancellor became a member in 2001. We also toured the Rotunda to view the Ring of Honor where every year they display the jerseys of players who have made an impact on the game on a high school, collegiate, and professional level. As the 2009 Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year, I am honored to have my jersey hanging with those selected for this season. Allison Hightower’s LSU jersey is also featured with this elite group for the outstanding career she has had thus far. Even though I had visited the WBHOF last summer, this visit was even more special because I was able to share it with my teammates. I also think the visit inspired me to play with greater intensity in the big game vs. UT, by helping me focus on the things that helped me achieve that honor. With hard work, desire, and determination, I hope to be represented there again in the future.
NOTE: During our recent trip to Knoxville to play the University of Tennessee, we took our team to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. From time to time over the next few weeks, we will have our players blog their thoughts on this special experience.

 

Filed under  //  Off the Court   Player's Post  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Ally to throw out first pitch at LSU baseball game on Saturday

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BATON ROUGE -- LSU senior guard Allison Hightower will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the LSU baseball game on Saturday when the top-ranked Tigers take on William & Mary at 2 p.m. in Alex Box Stadium. Hightower plays her final home game at 2 p.m. Sunday as No. 20 LSU hosts Mississippi State on Senior Day in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Sunday’s game represents the regular season finale for LSU, who is vying for a 12th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. The Lady Tigers were a 70-53 winner over Arkansas on Thursday night and have won four of their last five games. LSU (19-8, 8-7) is still in contention to earn a first-round bye for next week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament but the Lady Tigers need help with losses by either Vanderbilt or Georgia.

Tickets to watch Hightower’s final game are on sale now at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office, online at LSUsports.net or by calling 1-800-960-TKTS or 225-578-2184. Sunday's game will not be televised.

Tickets cost $10 for lower and prime middle seating, $8 for middle seating, $6 for upper seating and $3 for youth tickets. The “Friends & Family Four Pack” allows families four tickets, four hot dogs and four fountain drinks starting at $30. Group tickets start at $2. LSU student admission is free with a valid LSU ID.

In conjunction with Senior Day, LSU will be welcoming back several former players for its “Alumni Weekend.” Those players will be recognized at halftime of the game. The list includes Cornelia Gayden, LSU’s all-time leading 3-point shooter with 337 treys. Gayden played from 1991-95 and drained an NCAA record 12 3-pointers versus Jackson State on Feb. 9, 1995. The milestone still stands today.

Hightower will be recognized in a special pregame ceremony on the floor. The 5-foot-10 guard has won 99 games during her career at LSU and will be going for win No. 100 in her final home game. Hightower has been the Lady Tigers’ most valuable player and arguably the SEC’s most valuable player the past two seasons.

Filed under  //  Off the Court  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Courtney & KG help guide LSU over Arkansas

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BATON ROUGE -- Sophomore forward Courtney Jones scored a career-high 22 points and junior guard Katherine Graham finished two assists shy of another triple-double as the 20th-ranked LSU women's basketball team completed a season sweep of Arkansas by a score of 70-53 on Thursday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The Lady Tigers (19-8, 8-7 Southeastern Conference) improved their NCAA Tournament resume with their fourth win in their past five games while remaining in a tie for fifth place in the SEC standings with Georgia, who was a 65-49 at South Carolina on Thursday night.

For LSU to earn a first round bye in next week's SEC Tournament, the Lady Tigers must win their season-finale and hope for a Vanderbilt or Georgia loss on Sunday. LSU also got quality minutes off the bench from Taylor Turnbow.

LSU closes its regular season at home against Mississippi State at 2 p.m. CST Sunday. The Lady Bulldogs are in a tie for third place with Vanderbilt in the standings. Sunday will be "Senior Day" for Allison Hightower, who plays her final game in the Maravich Center.

Read the entire article at: http://bit.ly/9NKcMW

Posted by Bill Martin  

Allison makes midseason Naismith list

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ATLANTA -- LSU senior guard Allison Hightower has been named as one of 30 midseason candidates for the 2010 Women's Naismith Trophy, given annually to women's college basketball's national player of the year, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced on Thursday.

The list was voted on by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors, comprised of leading basketball journalists from around the country. The board based its criteria on player performances this season.

The Naismith Trophy is the most prestigious national basketball award and is given annually to the women's college basketball player of the year. This year, the award will be presented at the NCAA Women's Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.

Hightower has been on a tear in the past seven games, averaging 23.0 points, five 20-plus point games and she has combined for 21 three-pointers and 14 steals during that span. Her 18.2 points per game average is on pace to be the highest since Seimone Augustus posted 22.7 points during her National Player of the Year senior season of 2005-06.

Read entire article at: http://bit.ly/aRGiPN

Posted by Bill Martin  

Lady Tigers Meet Up in France

The following post and photos come from Lady Tiger Temeka Johnson who is playing overseas and ran into another Lady Tiger Hanna (Biernacka) Bouldwin thousands of miles from Baton Rouge where they once played together:

"It was so great seeing Hanna and reminiscing about the days we had at LSU. With all the years that past between us, it was still old times. Hanna has grown so much and her and her husband Maurice are making it slowly but surely over here in France. The Lady Tiger Love is strong and like the picture shows, it goes along way."

 

Filed under  //  Off the Court   Temeka Johnson  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Q signs with San Antonio

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SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 24, 2010 – The San Antonio Silver Stars today announced the signing of guard Quianna Chaney to a training camp contract.

Chaney originally was selected 19th overall by the Chicago Sky in the 2008 WNBA Draft. In her rookie season, she played in 28 games and tallied averages of 2.4 points, 1.0 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 8.6 minutes per game. Additionally, she scored a season-best 11 points against Indiana on July 22, and a season-best five rebounds at Houston on July 26.

Chaney joined Samsun Basketbol in Samsun, Turkey, and currently is averaging 14.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.9 steals and 36.0 minutes per game in 21 games played. Additionally, she has recorded one double-double as she tallied 19 points and 10 rebounds on Jan. 17. During the 2008-09 offseason, Chaney played for Energa Toruñ (Toruñ, Poland).

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Posted by Bill Martin  

Vote for Allison for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award

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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- LSU senior guard Allison Hightower is one of 10 national finalists for the 2009-10 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for NCAA women's basketball, which recognizes excellence both on and off the court. Fans can vote online now at: http://bit.ly/boeX6p.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition.

Nationwide balloting concludes March 22 to determine the winner. Fan balloting will be available on the award's official Web site http://www.seniorclassaward.com/vote/womens_basketball_2009/as well as through text messaging. Fans can text W7 to 74567 to vote for Hightower. These votes will be combined with votes from coaches and media to determine the recipient of the award.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in SchoolTM, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 women's candidates who were announced in October.


"It's an honor to be considered a finalist for such a great award because it also takes into account what you do in the community and in school and not just on the court," Hightower said. "We've always been proud of what we do in the community as Lady Tigers. To have the fans involved in the voting is great because they are the ones who see us not only out on the court but in school visits and community service projects."

Filed under  //  Community   Media  
Posted by Bill Martin  

LSU signee McKinney overcomes adversity to lead her team to victory

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For a big victory, LeFlore relied on the biggest player on the court.

Shanece McKinney -- the Rattlers' 6-foot-4 center and an LSU signee -- racked up 16 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocked shots to lead No. 3 LeFlore to a 52-40 victory over Carroll-Ozark Wednesday in the Class 5A girls South Regional.

"She's been here before," Rattlers coach Darrell Walton said of McKinney. "She knew what it was going to take. She stepped up and played basketball."

After the game, McKinney learned that her maternal grandmother died early Wednesday, leading her to decline interviews.

McKinney, who missed eight games with a knee injury this season, put a scare into Walton and her teammates early in the second half when she grabbed her knee after falling to the floor while saving an errant pass from careening out of bounds. She remained on the floor while trainers evaluated her leg, but she walked to the bench and re-entered the game after less than a minute had run off the clock.
...
She quickly blocked a shot and scored after leaping to catch a lob -- two plays that showed her knee was fine.

Read the entire story: http://bit.ly/9DDrQK

Filed under  //  Media  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Guest Speaker in players' class

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KATHERINE GRAHAM

On Friday, February 19, we had a guess speaker in my Kinesiology Sports Marketing class. This special individual topic was about social networking and being able to target different people and all the things the program he is affiliated with uses to reach a mass array of fans. The individual was, as Jenni Peters calls him, "Bobby" Starkey. That's right Coach Starkey came and talked to our class about the programs attempt to reach coaches, players, and fans on a personal level and make them more interested in the Lady Tiger program. I personally got a first hand explanation as to why he is so addicted to twitter and blogging and realize that it is not just for social networking, but also a way to create an interest. Overall Coach Starkey did an excellent job of informing LSU students, and if coaching doesn't work out he can always fall back on teaching as a profession. Until next time Lady Tiger fans!

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SWAYZE BLACK
After being given a day off following a big win against Vanderbilt, you would think none of the team wants to be around any of the coaches. However Tia, Boogie, Erica and I were honored with the chance to have Coach Starkey as a guest speaker in our Kinesiology 3801 class. Coach Starkey came in and informed our class of the many different options we have in the media world as far as advertising and marketing in sports. We were taught different ways to keep people entertained and even how to draw big audiences. Coach Starkey has done a great job of keeping people updated through his twitter, facebook, and our lady tiger blog just to name a few. He has websites available for players and coaches of all sports to entertain, inform, and also motivate. I'm pretty sure many of you have already been keeping up with a couple of these websites and following Coach Starkey, but for those of you that haven't I would strongly advise that you do. This would be an easy way to see what it is like in the day of a Lady Tiger and learn other things that are very inspiring and that may be helpful to you. Hope you all enjoy tiger fans!

 

Filed under  //  In the Classroom   Player's Post  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Former Lady Tiger Roneeka Hodges traded to San Antonio

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The Minnesota Lynx today announced the team has agreed to a sign-and-trade deal with San Antonio, trading guard/forward Roneeka Hodges to the Silver Stars in exchange for the right to swap second round picks in the 2011 WNBA Draft. Hodges entered the 2010 season as a restricted free agent.


"It feels a bit strange not to be re-signing Roneeka after the great job she did for us last year filling in for Seimone (Augustus)," said Lynx executive vice president Roger Griffith. "She showed last year that she can play in this league. The reality was that with our offseason additions, which added to our depth at the shooting guard and small forward positions, we knew we weren't going to be able to keep everyone. Other teams went after Roneeka and because of how our roster is made up today, we knew that we weren't going to be able to retain her. At that point we started talking to the teams that were interested in her to see what kind of sign-and-trade agreements we could work out, and this trade is the result of those conversations. Again, Roneeka did more than what was asked of her last season and we wish her the best of luck in San Antonio. This is a good scenario for both parties in that we're able to obtain something that could pay dividends for us down the road, while offering Roneeka a chance at playing time in San Antonio. We just weren't in the position to offer Roneeka the type of security that San Antonio was. We are very happy for her."

The Lynx originally acquired Hodges, a 5'10 guard/forward, via a dispersal draft involving former Houston Comets players on December 8, 2008, and then signed her on May 7, 2009. In 33 games with the Lynx in 2009, the five-year veteran averaged 9.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while filling in for the injured Seimone Augustus. In 136 career games with Houston and the Lynx, the New Orleans, Louisiana native holds averages of 6.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 17.6 minutes per game.

Filed under  //  WNBA  
Posted by Bill Martin