Lady Tigers Picked Third in SEC By League Coaches; Barrett, Graham Earn Preseason All-SEC Honors

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

Posted by Bill Martin