Alumni, Band Make Southeastern Victory Special

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BOB STARKEY (12-22-09):

The last game before Christmas break is never an easy one. For the players there is so much to think about with the holidays upon us. They are working to play good basketball but have also spent time shopping for Christmas and packing to go home for a few days. For six of our players, there has been winter session classes. Not because they need them, but because they wanted to get ahead academically -- which makes our staff very proud! With the Southeastern game there was a lot of extra curricular activity so we were grateful to leave the PMAC tonight with a nice victory. Another great aspect of our game tonight was all the Lady Tiger alumni that came out including players Quianna Chaney, Temeka Johnson, Tae Tae LeBlanc, Khalilah Mitchell and Mesha Williams. The mini alumni reunion also included past managers, Erica Killum, Angelica Lodge and Brittany Ward. Something else special happened last night (at least in the eyers of our coaching staff) that the normal fan might not have noticed or appreciated. The LSU Band was perched in their normal spot to provide music and entertainment for the game even though we are three days out of Christmas. We appreciated their dedication so before the game our staff bought the band some pizza and after the game Coach Chancellor took the team over to them so say thanks personally -- it's The Lady Tiger Way!

 

 

Filed under  //  Alumni   Off the Court  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Banquet Highlights the Inaugural Sue Gunter Classic

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BOB STARKEY (12-17-09):

Looking back on the first Sue Gunter Classic, one of the best memories I have is of the banquet. First and foremost, many thanks to Brittany Carvalhido and her managers for the countless hours in putting it together. It was special to see Skip Bertman, one of Coach Gunter's favorites attending and I had a chance to talk to Skip and hear some of his favorite Coach Gunter stories. Patrick Wright did a wonderful job as MC and share will all of us some his favorite Coach Gunter tales. A major highlight of the banquet was listening to Hall of Fame Doris Rogers who not only was a friend of Coach Gunters but a teammate at Nashville Business College. I learned two new things about Coach Gunter during Doris talk. The first was that she was an outstanding softball player. She batted second in the order and her role was to bunt the lead-off hitter over. And, in the true Coach Gunter fashion, she learned the skill to perfection. The other story that I first learned was that the night before she past, she told a friend of hers at the house, "to make some extra coffee for the morning because there will be a lot of people here." Even in passing Coach Gunter was taking care of us!

 

Filed under  //  Alumni   Off the Court   Sue Gunter  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Seimone named to SI All-Decade Team

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The following was comprised by Kelli Anderson at SI.com


Guard: Diana Taurasi, UConn. She won the 2002 NCAA title surrounded by great talent, the 2003 title accompanied by a team of role players and the 2004 title because, as Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma put it, "We have Diana and you don't." She is our women's college basketball Player of the Decade.

Guard: Sue Bird, UConn. Her unique package of playmaking skills, vision, instinct and clutch shooting helped Connecticut win two NCAA titles, in 2000 and 2002. Bird's 45.9 percent career three-point shooting is still the best in UConn history.

Forward: Candace Parker, Tennessee. The 6-foot-4 guard/forward/center could play every position, fill out every statistical box -- and dunk. She led the Lady Vols to back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008, the latter while suffering a dislocated left shoulder.

Forward: Seimone Augustus, LSU. The player LSU athletic director Skip Bertman called "the most important recruit in the history of LSU," never led the Lady Tigers to a national title, but her trademark feathery jumper (and 19.3 points and 5.2 rebounds a game) guided LSU to three straight Final Fours and established the program as a perennial title contender.

Center: Courtney Paris, Oklahoma. While dominating the post for the Sooners from 2005-2009, the four-time Kodak/State Farm All-American set a number of records, including the NCAA mark for consecutive double-doubles, with 112.

Coach: Geno Auriemma. Five NCAA title in 10 years -- two of them, 2002 and 2009, capping undefeated seasons -- is downright Wooden-esque.

Filed under  //  Media   Seimone Augustus  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Joyce Walker jersey to be retired at Garfield High School

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Before Garfield's boys basketball game against Lakes on Saturday, the Bulldogs are going to honor the past with their first basketball hall of fame inductions.

The school will recognize the 1974 "Superdogs" in a ceremony that begins at 7 p.m. That season Garfield finished unbeaten and is considered one of the best teams in state history.
Lakes coach JoJo Rodriguez was a player on that team and later, as the Bulldogs' coach, he led Garfield to the 1993 state championship.

The school is also retiring Joyce Walker's jersey. Walker graduated from Garfield in 1980 -- the Bulldogs won a championship that season -- before going on to become an All-American at LSU. She later became one of the first women to play with the Harlem Globetrotters and is widely considered the best female player to come out of Washington.

Like Rodriguez, Walker later coached her alma mater to a state title in 2005.

Garfield athletic director Jim Valiere said there will be music, videos and a slide show during the ceremony. The varsity game will start once the induction and jersey retirement is over.

Filed under  //  Alumni   Media  
Posted by Bill Martin  

What they said about Coach Gunter

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“For me personally, when I came to LSU, one of the things that just appealed to me was that I was taking over a program that Sue Gunter made famous. That was a pleasant thought for me personally. She and I were both raised in small, rural Mississippi towns about 50 miles apart, and we just have so much in common. I can’t think of a greater way to honor someone. She was a better person than she was a coach, and she was a great coach.”
-- LSU head coach Van Chancellor

“You look at the program and how far it’s come and it really speaks volumes for what she’s done. If you look at the people that she’s brought into the program, the people that she’s trusted and instilled so much value in, you see in the record books how well she did and what a great job she did. It’s not just the records, though. Look at all the alumni that come back. It has to be something that she’s done. When you’re around great people, you always want to embrace that. Coach Gunter was a player’s coach. Even though she was a little older, she adapted to the generations that she recruited, which was good for us. We never had to change to try to fit her. She basically changed to fit us. You don’t ever see that. Once certain people get older, you just adapt to them, but she did everything she could to try to adapt to us. She was always there to pick us up.”
-- Former LSU point guard and 2009 WNBA champ Temeka Johnson

“Coach Gunter is someone who has greatly influenced me as a coach and as a person. That influence is just as strong today ever before. I feel obligated to carry on her legacy of love for the game and the players that play it so that I can share her influence.”
-- LSU associate head coach Bob Starkey

“Sue Gunter was a wonderful friend, an exceptional person and an incredibly talented basketball coach. Sue was definitely one of the pioneers of women’s collegiate basketball. She was one of my mentor. She taught me about the delicate balance of coaching and teaching the game and the value of great player-coach relationships. She made playing basketball fun due to her ability to connect with her players.”
-- Tennessee head coach Pat Summitt

“There was always a lot of respect, not just as a coach, but in life. She was an unbelievable friend and sister. I will always cherish what we had. And she was a hell of a coach.”
-- Ann Meyers

“I’m reminded every day this is how I want to be remembered. I want to live my life the way Coach Gunter lived.”
-- Former LSU three-time All-SEC player Cornelia Gayden

Filed under  //  Media   Sue Gunter  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Sue Gunter's legacy lives on at LSU

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The following is part of a great article written by our SID Bill Martin on Coach Gunter:


The phrase “dream big, work hard” epitomizes everything associated with LSU women’s basketball. The words stressed by the late Hall of Fame coach couldn’t be truer for a program that she took over in 1982. In 40 seasons, Sue Gunter helped change the culture of women’s basketball in America and the pieces of her legacy are most prominent in Baton Rouge.

It’s been five years since Coach Gunter sat on the LSU bench, but the current generation of Lady Tigers is reminded on a daily basis of what she meant to the program. LSU operates out of the Sue Gunter Complex in the Maravich Center. A bronze statue of Gunter greets players upon entrance to the complex. A portrait painting adorns one of the walls. A banner hangs from the rafters of the Maravich Center, her accomplishments known well to all.

“It’s a great honor because we get to carry on the legacy that she helped build up the program to where it is today,” LSU junior guard Katherine Graham said. “Playing for the former players like Temeka Johnson and Sylvia Fowles and all those that put in the hours and the work to bring the program where it needs to be. Coach Gunter established this.”

While Gunter is a constant reminder to the team, these two days her legacy takes the spotlight as LSU is playing host to the inaugural Sue Gunter Classic in her name. LSU plans to continue the tournament for future seasons, making it into one of college basketball’s premier events and keeping Gunter’s legacy alive among the nation’s teams.

Read the entire article: http://bit.ly/8ZyswD

Filed under  //  Media   Sue Gunter  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Coach Gunter remembered as tournament in her name tips off

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From today's story in The Advocate by Scott Hotard:


Temeka Johnson remembers the day she met Sue Gunter.

Johnson was an all-state point guard at Bonnabel High in Kenner. Gunter was one of several college coaches hoping to sign Jewell Johnson’s granddaughter.

“There’s something special about that lady,” Temeka Johnson recalls her grandmother saying.
Jewell Johnson, who died of cancer last year, always knew a good thing when she saw it.
A decade after the coach’s visit to the Johnson home, those who played for Gunter — or coached against her — describe the most celebrated figure in LSU women’s basketball the same way.
She was something special.

“However many wins she had,” said Lady Tigers coach Van Chancellor, in his third season at the helm of the program Gunter made relevant, “she was a better person than she was a coach.”
Today begins the inaugural Sue Gunter Classic, a two-day, four-team tournament featuring LSU, Houston Baptist, North Carolina A&T and Louisiana-Lafayette.


Read the entire article (it well worth it!) - http://bit.ly/4nFqxi

Filed under  //  Sue Gunter  
Posted by Bill Martin  

Ally named SEC Player of the Week

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Allison Hightower • LSU
Senior • Arlington, Texas
• Followed up a 32-point effort at Louisiana Tech with her second straight 20-plus point game to lead LSU past New Orleans on Sunday.
• Hightower has topped the 20-point mark three times this season and ranks fourth in the SEC in scoring with an 18.3 average.
• Hightower also gathered a season-high four steals in the win that kept LSU undefeated and extended its winning streak over Louisiana opponents to 32 straight games.

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Posted by Bill Martin  

Autograph Signing After The Game A Huge Success

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ALLISON HIGHTOWER (12-14-09):
One of the new things that our marketing department has started this year is that we will have two or three Lady Tigers signing autographs after each weekend game. After the game, we run into the locker room to hear what the coaches have to say and then hustle up to the concourse to sign autographs. I must say I was shocked at how many fans stayed around -- just goes to show how great the Lady Tiger fans are and it's just another reason we love you all so much!

 

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

Team Dinner at Texas de Brazil

KATHERINE GRAHAM (12-14-09):

This past Saturday we had a special treat! After two weeks of practicing, and taking finals the coaching staff treated the entire team to dinner. This time we got the opportunity to pick the place. Latear (Tia) Eason had a great suggestion...Texas de Brazil! If you have never been there I strongly suggest that you make it a priority. Its a different experience to eating dinner. They have a lot of different types of meats that servers bring around to your table. They have a fully loaded salad bar equipped with a variety of different side items to complement their meats. Texas de Brazil gave us a chance to relax after a stressful week, eat a great meal, and spend some quality team bonding time. Over all the experience was unbelievable. Of course the best part was just enjoying an evening of conversing and laughing with my teammates! I cant wait to go again! Until next time Lady Tiger fans!

 

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