With 11 returning players from a squad that reached the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, the LSU women’s basketball team was selected to finish third in the 2011 Southeastern Conference standings as chosen by league coaches during a preseason awards announcement on Thursday. Junior forward LaSondra Barrett was one of eight players who were named to the Coaches All-SEC Preseason First Team. Senior guard Katherine Graham earned a spot on the preseason All-SEC Second Team. Tennessee was predicted to win the SEC regular season championship with 121 votes. LSU received 93 votes while second-place Kentucky earned 108 votes. Georgia, Vanderbilt and Auburn round out the top half of the league with South Carolina, Alabama, Ole Miss, Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi State rounding out the lower half. Kentucky senior forward Victoria Dunlap was named SEC Women's Basketball Preseason Player of the Year. Joining Barrett, on the All-SEC First Team were Dunlap and Kentucky’s A’dia Mathies, Auburn’s Alli Smalley, Georgia’s Porsha Phillips, Tennessee’s Angie Bjorklund and Shekinna Stricklen and Vanderbilt’s Jence Rhoads. The second team consisted of Graham, Alabama’s Tierney Jenkins, Arkansas’ C’eira Ricketts, Georgia’s Jasmine James, South Carolina’s Marah Strickland, Tennessee’s Kelley Cain and Glory Johnson and Vanderbilt’s Hannah Tuomi. Barrett, who was also a first-team recipient by the media, was second on the team in points per game with 12.8 and she led LSU with 6.6 rebounds per contest as a sophomore. Barrett led the SEC in free throw percentage while also producing five double-doubles on the year. Graham, a native of Birmingham, Ala., is LSU’s most experienced player with 56 career starts. As a junior, she led LSU in assists with 3.5 per contest while also averaging 8.4 points and 5.7 boards per game. She is one of only two players in school history to produce a triple-double. The Lady Tigers officially open their season on Sunday, Nov. 14 at Northwestern (Ill.). LSU takes on Delta State in an exhibition game on Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Center.
Points were compiled on an 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for order of prediction, while each player received two points for a first-team vote and one point for a second-team vote. Ties were not broken and coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team or players. 2011 SEC Coaches Preseason Order of Finish
School Points
1. Tennessee 121
2. Kentucky 108
3. LSU 93
T4. Georgia 88
T4. Vanderbilt 88
6. Auburn 59
7. South Carolina 48
8. Alabama 43
9. Ole Miss 42
10. Florida 39
11. Arkansas 35
12. Mississippi State 28
FIRST TEAM ALL-SEC
Alli Smalley, Auburn
Porsha Phillips, Georgia
Victoria Dunlap, Kentucky
A’dia Mathies, Kentucky
LaSondra Barrett, LSU
Angie Bjorklund, Tennessee
Shekinna Stricklen, Tennessee
Jence Rhoads, Vanderbilt
SECOND TEAM ALL-SEC
Tierney Jenkins, Alabama
C’eira Ricketts, Arkansas
Jasmine James, Georgia
Katherine Graham, LSU
Marah Strickland, South Carolina
Kelley Cain, Tennessee
Glory Johnson, Tennessee
Hannah Tuomi, Vanderbilt
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Victoria Dunlap, Kentucky 8
Shekinna Stricklen, Tennessee 2
Marah Strickland, South Carolina 1
Jence Rhoads, Vanderbilt 1