Lady Tigers Planning Alumni Weekend!

Alumni_weekend

Dear Lady Tiger Alums:

We are writing to let you know about our plans for this year’s Alumni Weekend.  We will be putting together some special plans for the weekend of January 8-9 at your Lady Tigers battle SEC rival Alabama.

I know that this is early in the SEC season and that we normally do something in February but we don’t have a single home game on the weekend this February and this is the absolute best date available.

Having said that, we are very hopeful to again have a great crowd!  Each year it is a very special time for our team to meet each of you and learn of the legacy you have left as well as to what you are up to these days!

This year, on Saturday, January 8, we will meet at 6:00 PM in the “Legends Lounge” which is a new facility that overlooks our amazing practice facility.  We are so very excited for you to see and tour our new facilities – much has changed since last year.

Of course, we need the following information from you:

Are you attending both the Alumni Party (Saturday) and the game (Sunday)?

How many will you bring to the part/and or game?

What is your shirt size?

Please call Renee’ at 225.578.6643 and RSVP no later than January 5.  Also, please don’t hesitate to call me with any questions.  We are very excited to see as many of your possible!!!

 

Posted by Bob Starkey 

Forthan and LSU: "Perfect Fit"

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From Rachel Whitaker of the Daily LSU Reveille:

Stellar male basketball players are often referred to as men among boys.

Krystal Forthan epitomizes the female equivalent of that axiom.

Forthan is one of the newest signees on the LSU women's basketball team for the class of 2011. The 6-foot-4 forward has committed to the school with the right fit for her basketball style, according to Mark Lewis, ESPN HoopGurlz national recruiting coordinator.

"Krystal is a woman among girls," Lewis said. "She's physically strong and explosive athletically, and she's not hesitant to use it. The tough thing to find in recruiting on the women's side is an aggressive, physical, explosive player. She's always played that way, even back to high school in the ninth and 10th grade."

Forthan, ranked No. 5 in the nation by HoopGurlz, had narrowed her choice down to LSU and six other schools – North Carolina, UCLA, Southern California, Texas A&M, Kansas and Utah – before signing her National Letter of Intent to play for the Lady Tigers on Nov. 10.

Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil, Forthan's coach on the TeamXpress National Travel Team, said Forthan has a bright future because of her length, athleticism on the court and motivation off the court.

"I pushed her extremely hard to be better in every area of her life, and it has all come together," Davis-Wrightsil said. "Her focus, work and discipline in the classroom and on the court over the past two years will be the foundation that she will build on for years to come."

Forthan played her freshman season at Grant High School in her native Portland, Ore., where she averaged 15.1 points per game, and her sophomore season at nearby Jefferson High School before moving to Texas.

She enrolled at Georgetown High School in Georgetown, Texas, as a junior and had to sit out the basketball season because of high school transfer rules.

Forthan and the Lady Eagles are 7-1 so far in her senior season.

Lewis said the physical nature of the LSU women's basketball team in the Southeastern Conference matches Forthan's assets.

"You want to go somewhere with a tradition of winning, and you've got a coach like Van Chancellor who can train her professionally, as well," Lewis said. "Her choice in so many ways was terrific. It's a perfect fit for both LSU and the SEC."

Posted by Bob Starkey 

Family affair takes center stage in Lady Tigers victory over Nicholls State

The following is an article from Kelly McElroy of the DailyComet.com:

THIBODAUX — Scott Plaisance sat in Stopher Gym on Tuesday night watching as his wife, DoBee, coached the Nicholls State women's basketball team against LSU.

That alone would have been exciting enough for him.

But playing for the Lady Tigers was his oldest child, Theresa, a 6-foot-6 freshman forward.

Taking it all in with his son Scott Jr., he couldn't help but feel blessed.

"It was great ... the two loves of your life," he said after the game. "I was right on that line. It was exciting both ways. For DoBee to go against LSU, and of course for Theresa to play against her mom, it was a great opportunity for both of them."

In the end, the Lady Tigers topped Nicholls 88-35 and got a career-high eight points from Theresa on 4-of-5 shooting in front of increased media coverage and one of the largest crowds ever to watch a Nicholls women's basketball home game.

For mother and daughter, the game was special, but both said they were totally focused on playing once the game started.

"Once the ball was tipped off it was just like I was coaching any other team, even when she stepped onto the floor, we were in the zone trying to guard her, but it was a special moment in the end, getting to hug your daughter after the game," DoBee said. "I was pleased she did well, but disappointed in our lack of focus because we played great basketball up to this point."

Theresa, who entered averaging 2.3 minutes a game, is a former McDonald's All-American, who led Vandebilt Catholic High to the Class 4A title last season and the semifinals the year before.

"It was the first time for me and my mom," Theresa said. "We have played on the same side of the bench two years (in AAU ball). Playing against her, I generally know what to expect. I know my mom is one of the best coaches in the country, and I knew she was going to give it her all. There were a lot of nerves building up going in. I just tried to block everything out and stay calm. My mom will still love me in the end even though we beat them, and I love my mom so much."

Theresa, who grabbed five rebounds and had three assists in 12 minutes, scored the final two points of the first half as the Lady Tigers led 40-16 at halftime. She checked in for the first time with under 2 minutes to play in the first half.

Read the entire article: http://bit.ly/eay3BD

Posted by Bob Starkey 

Miriam Segar, Lady Tiger alum and SWA makes Baton Rouge Business Report's "40 Under 40"

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 for the Baton Rouge Business Report highlighting 40 top leaders under the age of 40.  This feature is on our own Miriam (Farr) Segar!

The following is written by Steve Sanoski

 What is your best business advice?

“Hard work in anything you do is the key. Set goals and work towards them. Always be true to your values and respect others. People are the key to any successful organization.”

As a three-time captain and standout point guard for the LSU women’s basketball team in the early 1990s, Miriam Segar says she learned about endurance and clock management.

As the senior associate director of athletics at her alma mater, the wife and mother of four says she needs those skills more than ever.

“My biggest challenge, definitely, is finding a balance between my job and my family,” says Segar, a Sulphur native. “One of the biggest misconceptions people have about my job is that it’s all about fun. It is fun: The access is amazing, and I absolutely love my job, but it’s a lot of work, too, and it requires a lot of time and energy.”

On any given day, Segar can be found working with LSU administrators, coaches, athletes—and sometimes the parents of athletes—to maintain the success of the 17 men’s and women’s teams she helps oversee.

Her favorite part of the job, she says, is working with the student-athletes.

“I feel very privileged to be able to give back to our student-athletes and play a role in their lives,” she says. “These kids are going to be the role models and leaders of tomorrow. I love the fact that we get to invest in them.”

Segar graduated from LSU in 1994 as a four-year letterwinner, four-time All-Southeastern Conference academic award winner and the recipient of the 1994 NCAA postgraduate scholarship. She spent one year as an intern in the SEC’s Birmingham, Ala., headquarters before returning to LSU in 1995, where she has risen through the ranks of the athletic department.

She recently was promoted to senior associate athletic director, making her the highest-ranking female in the administration and the only one with oversight of the university’s high-profile sports teams. She says many women find it too difficult to juggle the demands of the job with those of being a wife and mother.“There is a great need for more women in athletics administration,” she says.

Read the article and the other 40 Under 40: http://bit.ly/9oSeAD

Posted by Bob Starkey 

Marie talks about LSU, the WNBA, and her Basketball School of Excellence

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Marie Ferdinand-Harris of the Los Angeles Sparks exudes an overabundance of joy and excitement whenever given the opportunity to talk about basketball. Simply mention the word and she’ll tell you exactly what the sport means to her, what it’s done for her and what she hopes it can do for others.

It is that same passion that led her to open her own breeding grounds for success, aptly titled “The Marie Ferdinand Basketball School of Excellence,” an organization geared toward improving the lives of students and teenagers by applying on-court skills to the classroom.

And yet, if not for a little friendly and encouraging peer pressure, this vision may not have even been a consideration.

The Miami native was just 13 years old when she was convinced by a friend to consider taking up basketball. Although she was pretty content with not playing at the time, she says she finally gave in.

“I said, ‘OK, I’ll play,’” said Ferdinand-Harris of her shoulder-shrug approach to the game. “I went out there and played, but like any other kid I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just out there breaking all the rules but at the end of the day I was having fun.”

If anything, fun was the start of something big. As long as it was fun, Ferdinand-Harris kept playing. It’s a good thing too. Had she stopped having fun she may never have caught the eye of her high school coaches John Burke, a man who believed in preaching the fundamentals and developing players, Denise Novak, who played the role of mother figure for Marie, and shooting coach Marvin Harvey who, to this day, remains a force in her career.

“We never had an offseason,” Ferdinand-Harris said, reminiscing on her high school days. “We worked and worked during the offseason. When we couldn’t have gym time he took us to nearby playgrounds, we played with the boys, we did a lot.”

As time wore on and the constant routine of basketball became an everyday occurrence, Ferdinand-Harris began to develop as a player and gain recognition as Player of the Year (where? locally, statewide, nationwide?), Player of the Decade (where? locally, statewide, nationwide?) and various other awards for her game. All along she knew she wanted to go to college and advance her education and career, but she knew that despite the efforts of her mother, who was two jobs as a single parent and looking after six other kids, options were limited. Yet Ferdinand-Harris was inspired by her mom’s work ethic and only needed a source of inspiration to turn to.

Basketball would be the way to do it.

“I worked very, very hard on the basketball court,” she said. “I worked hard in the classroom. I was fortunate to have very good teachers who sacrificed their time to stay with me after school, worked on helping me pass my classes and get my GPA up.”

She played. She learned.

She improved.

And then, the scholarships started to roll in.

“I was being looked at by Georgia, Florida, Miami and all these schools. It was crazy because where I’m from, you just don’t leave that area,” Ferdinand-Harris said. “So to get a scholarship to LSU, that was just way over the top.”

Ferdinand-Harris took that over-the-top offer and landed in Louisiana for her college career. At the time, LSU was known predominantly for its long-standing football program, which started up as early as 1893 and claimed 15 bowl wins, 10 conference championships and one national championship. By the end of Ferdinand-Harris’s college basketball career, LSU’s women’s basketball program was forever changed.

Between 1997 and 2001, the LSU Lady Tigers made it to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament Final Four (1998), finished second in the SEC (1999), advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 (1999), cracked the Elite Eight (2000) and advanced to the second round of the Mideast Regional (2001).

While playing for the Lady Tigers, Ferdinand-Harris racked up 120 games, shot 49 percent from the field, notched 524 boards and dished 384 assists. And yet, through it all, the one person who inspired her the most was rarely in the crowd.

“I remember always asking my mom to come up and see me on campus, but she never actually came,” said Ferdinand-Harris. “She never made it. The only time my mom set foot on Baton Rouge, Louisiana was when I was graduating. When I was walking across that stage, she made that trip to Baton Rouge.”

Make no mistake about it: Ferdinand-Harris’s mother is proud of her daughter’s accomplishments both on and off the court, but it was the accomplishments in the classroom that meant the most.

“When she did that she just made me realize what really is important to her,” said Ferdinand-Harris. “She appreciated what basketball did for me, but at the end of the day academics is first and the priority.”

It’s that same philosophy that applies to the Marie Ferdinand Basketball School of Excellence.

“I’ve always said that the day I have an opportunity to help these kids understand to use sports, to use basketball, as a vehicle to get scholarships, I’m going to do it,” said Ferdinand-Harris.

The purpose of the school is to help develop skills throughout the early years of a player’s career so that by the time they get to high school they will have the fundamentals down to the point where schools will look to make scholarship offers.

It’s a blueprint to success based on Ferdinand-Harris's own success, as she admitted that all of her life-management skills like responsibility, accountability, confidence and leadership came from playing basketball.

The program is currently based in Ferdinand-Harris’ current-home of San Antonio, Texas, with hopes to expand the program into school districts throughout San Antonio and later into Baton Rouge and Ferdinand-Harris’ hometown of Miami.

“Basketball helped in so many ways and opened so many doors for me, in a sense where I was able to get people to really step in and help me,” she said. “My mom didn’t have to really worry too much about me because basketball kind of helped me in the midst of all those storms that we were going through.”

Now, in an effort to help create opportunities for others, she wants the future of the sport and the working world to discover those same elements and apply them to everyday life.

“Parents don’t understand how big of a role sports play in a kid’s life and how much they gain from it,” she said. “I look at my situation and even if I didn’t make it to the WNBA, I still won because I ended up getting a four-year scholarship and I got my degree.”

Taken from http://www.wnba.com/features/mfh_soe_101117.html

Posted by Bob Starkey 

Lady Tigers set for big opening road game

The following was written by Scott Hotard of The Advocate:

The LSU women’s basketball team returns the bulk of last year’s 21-10 squad, and a trio of freshmen join the fray for coach Van Chancellor’s fourth season.

If you’re wondering how good the Lady Tigers are, you won’t have to wait long to find out.

Led by All-Big Ten center Amy Jaeschke, Northwestern returns four starters from a team that went 18-15 last year with a pair of wins in the WNIT.

The Wildcats welcome the Lady Tigers to Evanston, Ill, for today’s 2 p.m. tipoff in only the third meeting of the schools. It’s the start of a brutal pre-conference schedule for LSU that includes matchups with No. 1 Connecticut, No. 7 Ohio State and No. 16 UCLA, plus three more teams that reached the NCAA tournament last season.

“This is a classic example of over-scheduling,” Chancellor said. “If you want a textbook version of over-scheduling, this is it.”

The schedule is reminiscent of the one LSU played two years ago. Nonconference games against the likes of UConn, Florida State, Notre Dame and Xavier helped LSU grab a No. 6 seed in the NCAAs despite a pedestrian 18-10 record.

LSU’s schedule wasn’t as strong last year, and the Lady Tigers were given a No. 7 seed and shipped to Duke for the start of the NCAA tournament.

After beating Hartford, LSU bowed out against the host Blue Devils in the second round.

The Lady Tigers must replace all-conference guard Allison Hightower from that team, but they have junior forward LaSondra Barrett — the second-leading scorer for LSU as a freshman and sophomore — and nine more returning letter-winners.

Read the entire article: http://bit.ly/aZJ3B7

Posted by Bob Starkey 

Louisiana freshmen feeling the love from the Lady Tiger fans

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The following is an artcile from Scott Hotard of The Advocate:

Midway through the second half of Monday’s exhibition game, Jeanne Kenney put in a reverse lay-up that (combined with a foul shot) resulted in her first three points of the night. A minute later, Theresa Plaisance jogged from the bench to the scorer’s table and checked in for the first time.

Who knows what kind of impact either player will have on the LSU women’s basketball program this season or even as their careers mature.

But the two freshmen already seem like the darlings of the Lady Tigers fan base.

In the glorified scrimmage Monday against Delta State, Kenney’s layup and Plaisance’s entrance rocked the home crowd like few other moments.

“One thing Louisiana takes care of is home,” said LSU junior LaSondra Barrett, a Jackson, Miss., native. “I’m not saying they don’t take care of everyone, but they’re really proud of their homegrown talent.”

Kenney and Plaisance, who will make their official debuts Sunday at Northwestern in LSU’s season opener, are homegrown and — given their success in the prep ranks — well-known.

Kenney, a savvy 5-foot-8 guard equipped with lights-out range, and St. Michael beat Plaisance and Vandebilt Catholic in 2009 to win their second straight Class 4A state title. A rematch in 2010 was derailed when Kenney missed much of her senior season with an ankle injury and St. Michael failed to reach the state tournament.

Leading the Terriers to their first state title, Plaisance, a 6-foot-5 forward whose game extends to the perimeter, scored 24 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, blocked five shots and dished out three assists in the 4A final. Later, the daughter of Nicholls State women’s coach DoBee Plaisance was named the state’s Miss Basketball and selected to play in the McDonald’s All-American game.

Though rivals in the prep ranks, the status of Kenney and Plaisance as teammates is nothing new.

They began playing AAU ball together when they were 10. Whenever they attended out-of-town summer basketball camps, they often roomed together.

“We always said it would be awesome if we could play on the same college team,” Kenney said. “We just didn’t realize it was going to come true.”

Read the entire articel: http://bit.ly/aOBvxf

Posted by Bob Starkey 

Coach Chancellor enjoys the Lady Tigers night in Denham Springs

 VAN CHANCELLOR: With all the years I have in coaching I still enjoy working with young kids.  Even as we prepare for opening game this weekend I’ve been looking forward to our clinic in Denham Springs for P.A.R.D.S.  We’ve done a lot of clinics and community work but this is one of my favorite stops.  I understand that the Lady Tigers have made this annual event beginning when Denham Springs’ own Katrina Hibbert played for us.  There is always a tremendous crowd and you can tell it is a special community that cares.  I’d also like to thank my staff and team for doing a great job last night.  They have a lot of responsibilities as well but they took time out of their schedule to help us put on this clinic.  I’m already looking forward to our trip back next fall!

Posted by Bob Starkey 

Destini reads to her GPA school

DESTINI HUGHES: The school I went to was very exciting. I got to read to some six, seven, and eight year olds. Considering that their attention span is not very long because of their young age, I thought they were pretty engaged and participated in class discussions. Overall, I really just wanted to stress the point that school comes first before sports so that they can begin to appreciate education at a young age.

Posted by Bob Starkey 

Boogie listed as a player to watch by ESPN's Graham Hays

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LaSondra Barrett, LSU: The ascension seemed to begin during SEC play last season, even as Allison Hightower closed out a very good career in strong form. Barrett averaged 15.1 points on 41.8 percent shooting in 16 SEC games, compared to 10.4 points per game on 37.4 percent shooting in nonconference games. Of particular interest for a 6-foot-2 forward who is going to get a lot of defensive attention, she shot 89 percent from the free throw line in SEC play, better even than her 84 percent overall mark that led all players from the conference. She's not exactly undiscovered after two years of all-SEC honors, but like Dunlap, a junior leap might be in order.

Read Graham Hays' entire article: http://es.pn/dm2Zpy

Posted by Bob Starkey