Ally the cover girl!

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Allison Hightower graces the cover of Tiger Rag's basketball edition, out this week. She shares the cover with the men's Tasmin Mitchell.

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Posted by Bill Martin  

Get To Know Taylor Booze

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BILL MARTIN (11/5/09 - 10:50 a.m.)
Junior point guard Taylor Booze joins the LSU Lady Tigers after spending one season at Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College and one season at Oklahoma State. An honorable mention all-conference recipient in 2009, Booze played alongside current teammate Jasmine Nelson at Trinity Valley as the two guided the school to the national junior college tournament.

Booze, a native of Carrollton, Texas, prepped at Duncanville High School. She sat down with LSUsports.net for a question and answer segment.

Read it at the link below:

http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=204827883

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Allison gets Pre-Season All-American Mention

SPORTS INFORMATION (11-3-09):
LSU senior guard Allison Hightower received votes for the five-player women’s college basketball 2009-10 Associated Press Preseason All-America Team that was released by the organization on Tuesday.

Hightower, a native of Arlington, Texas, was one of two Southeastern Conference players who received votes.


Hightower, the 2010 SEC Preseason Player of the Year as voted by the media and coaches, led LSU in six categories as a junior. Her 14.9 point per game average was fifth-best in the SEC a season ago. The 5-10 guard became the first player in school history to lead the Lady Tigers in points, assists, steals and blocks in a single season.

Hightower, a 2009 first-team All-SEC selection, is on watch lists for the Wade Trophy and John Wooden Award. Those awards go to women’s college basketball’s National Player of the Year in the spring.

Hightower and the Lady Tigers take on Loyola-New Orleans in an exhibition game at the Maravich Center on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. CST. LSU plays host to Centenary in the season-opener on Sunday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. CST.

2009-10 Associated Press Preseason All-America Team
Maya Moore, Connecticut, 6-0, junior, 19.3 ppg, 8.9 rpg, .521 fg pct (40 votes)
Jayne Appel, Stanford, 6-4, senior, 16.1 ppg, 9.2 rpg, .602 fg pct (34)
Tina Charles, Connecticut, 6-4, senior, 16.5 ppg, 8.9 rpg, .620 fg pct (28)
Jantel Lavender, Ohio State, 6-4, junior, 20.8 ppg, 10.7 rpg, .541 fg pct (20)
Monica Wright, Virginia, 5-11, senior, 20.5 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 117 3-pointers (20)

Others receiving votes (in alphabetical order): Ashley Barlow, Notre Dame; Angie Bjorklund, Tennessee; Alysha Clark, Middle Tennessee State; Elena Delle Donne, Delaware; Alexis Gray-Lawson, California; Brittney Griner, Baylor; ALLISON HIGHTOWER, LSU; Danielle McCray, Kansas; Deirdre Naughton, DePaul; Nnemkadi Ogwumike, Stanford; Samantha Prahalis, Ohio State; Andrea Riley, Oklahoma State; Danielle Robinson, Oklahoma; Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga.

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Lady Tigers on Sports Monday Tonight

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MEDIA UPDATE (11-2-09):
Catch Sports Monday with Lee Feinswog tonight on Cox 4 at 6:30 p.m. with a replay at 11 p.m. His guest tonight include Temeka Johnson and Bob Starkey along with a special feature on Jasmine Nelson. There were also be clips of interviews with Tyrus Thomas and Dale Brown. Sounds like a great basketball show that Lee has put together!

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LSU Is No. 9 In The Associated Press Preseason Top 25 Poll

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BILL MARTIN, SID (10/30/09 - 3:30 p.m.)
For the 11th time in program history, the LSU women’s basketball team heads into a new season ranked in The Associated Press preseason top 10 as the Lady Tigers earned a No. 9 national ranking in the poll that was released on Friday.

LSU is the second highest ranked Southeastern Conference team in the AP Top 25. Tennessee is ranked No. 8, Georgia comes in at No. 21 and Vanderbilt is No. 22. Connecticut, the defending national champion, is the unanimous preseason No. 1 after receiving all 40 first-place votes. Stanford, Ohio State, Notre Dame and North Carolina round out the top five.

It marks the ninth straight season LSU has made an appearance in the preseason edition of the AP Top 25. The No. 9 ranking is the 100th top 10 AP poll appearance for LSU this decade, which is sixth most among all teams in the nation.

Read the complete press release:
http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=204824172

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Ally, Boogie, Lady Tigers get high marks from SEC Coaches

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More great news for Allison Hightower, LaSondra Barrett and the LSU Lady Tigers. The SEC Coaches Poll was released and again Ally was picked as the Pre-Season SEC Player of the Year with Boogie joining her on the First-Team All-SEC. Tennessee edged out LSU for the first place among the coaches.

“I think the voting shows what we thought all along – that this is going to be a tight race this season for the league title,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “The conference race is up for grabs and anyone can win it. We like the position we are in, but we have to go out and earn it. There is no question in my mind we are getting better as a team every day.”


Read the entire release at: http://bit.ly/4vVXKT

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Lady Tigers to be Televised 15 Times in 2009-2010

SPORTS INFORMATION (9-27-09):
Fifteen LSU women’s basketball games during the 2009-10 season will be carried live on regional or national television, including a school-record 12 Southeastern Conference regular season contests, as the league television schedule has been set.

The Lady Tigers will be featured on the ESPN Family of Networks three times, Fox Sports Net (FSN) three times, Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS) three times, Cox Sports Television (CST) five times and the SEC Network once.

The 15 televised regular-season games represent the third-highest total in school history, trailing only the 2005-06 and 2004-05 Final Four seasons with 17 and 15 games, respectively. Twelve of LSU’s 16 regular season conference tilts feature live television broadcasts, which represents the most in school history.

 

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SEC MEDIA DAYS AND A DASH FOR THE PLANE

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ALLISON HIGHTOWER (10-23-09):
So my trip to Birmingham for SEC media day with Coach Chancellor was pretty good (minus the flying). We talked to a lot of media from different states and also people like ESPN, CST, and Fox Sports net just to name a few. Everything went by pretty quick, we left the airport around 7:45 am and got their at 9, then we started media interviews at 10 and finished at noon. We could barley even eat the delicious meal they had for all the people there because we had to make a dash to the airport to get on the plane before the bad weather moved into Baton Rouge. Let me tell you, I was extremely happy when we landed safely just barely before the weather had arrived!!! GEAUX TIGERS!!!

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Lady Tigers Garner Attention as the SEC Favorite at 2009-10 SEC Media Day

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BILL MARTIN (10/22/09)
It has become a ritual of the fall, 2009-10 SEC Media Day, Tipoff 2010. Head coach Van Chancellor and senior guard Allison Hightower attended SEC Media Day today at the Birmingham Marriott along with the league's 11 other men's and women's teams. We departed Baton Rouge just after 7:30 a.m. on a charter plane to Bessemer, Ala. SEC officials then escorted us to the hotel.

Chancellor and Hightower were joined by men's head coach Trent Johnson and senior Tasmin Mitchell. Media Day is nothing new for Chancellor, who attended it for the third time as a member of the Lady Tiger staff. Chancellor also had experience here when he called SEC games on television and was head coach at Ole Miss. Hightower made a return trip as she attended SEC Media Day last season with then-senior Kristen Morris.

As compared to last year's media day, there was a much different feel in the building for LSU. On Thursday, the Lady Tigers receieved attention all day from regional and national media members because for the first time in the 20-year history of the SEC Media Poll, LSU is the league favorite. Chancellor and Hightower fielded questions about handling the role as the favorite and each alluded to the quality of the league where anyone can win the title.

Part of SEC Media Day involves 10-minute rotations in different rooms with different networks. Hightower and Chancellor each took turns in interview sessions with the SEC Network, ESPN, ESPNU, Fox Sports South and SECsports.com. Earlier this summer, the SEC announced a 15-year blockbuster deal with ESPN and by the looks of today, that contract is paying off. It will mean much more attention to the SEC on each of ESPN's respective entities.

Hightower did a Q & A segment for ESPNU's SEC Weekly show, including her efforts off the court. She discussed her role as leader in the classroom and in LSU's CHAMPS Life Skills program. She also talked about what it was like about being selected as the 2010 SEC Preseason Player of the Year.

Hightower and Chancellor were also interviewed by Dave Baker of the SEC Network and SECsports.com. Dave has been covering SEC basketball and football for several years now and does a great job. Prior to interviews, Chancellor spoke to commissioner Mike Slive and other officials from the conference office.

The last hour of media day takes place in a ballroom where only print media and newspapers can conduct interviews. Reporters from Knoxville to the Birmingham News and other websites spoke to Chancellor and Hightower.

We quickly departed the hotel after 12 p.m. to beat the weather back to Baton Rouge. We made it safely back and it was certainly a very productive day for LSU. With the men's team coming off an SEC title and the women's team picked to win the 2010 title, media attention is at an all-time high for LSU.

For the complete press release on SEC Tipoff 2010:
http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=5200&ATCLID=204819162

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Bill "THE THRILL" Martin

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BOB STARKEY (9-22-09):

One of the things I'm excited about in regard to this blog is the ability to introduce people to some of the best support staff in the nation. One of those guys is Bill "The Thrill" Martin -- our sports information director. Bill is one of those tireless guys that greatly cares about our sport and works hard to make sure the information on the Lady Tigers gets out there. Like today, while the rest of us got in the office today to get some work done, Bill was on a plane with Coach Chancellor and Allison Hightower to Birmingham, Alabama for the SEC Media Day. Bill will be a constant contributor on this blog and you will love his insight. In fact, you will get a taste later tonight as he writes about his trip.

 

Here is a few notes from LSUSports.net: http://bit.ly/4gfMe7

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