Anna Giroir
January 15, 2007Check It Out!
January 17, 2007
In basketball, most teams go through their ups and downs and that was the case for the men and women’s basketball teams during the past week. Each team went 1-1 in Southeastern Conference play. On Tuesday, the No. 13 Tigers opened league play with a 71-61 setback at 12th-ranked Alabama.
On Thursday, the Lady Tigers were beaten by Ole Miss in Oxford, 77-74. LSU rebounded over the weekend as the men posted a 65-63 victory over Auburn in Baton Rouge and the women routed Mississippi State, 77-50, in Starkville. On Tuesday, Glen Davis led the Tigers with 24 points and 17 rebounds. Tasmin Mitchell added 19 points for LSU, which shot only 35 percent from the field. Against Auburn, Terry Martin led the way for the LSU Tigers with 23 points. Mitchell added 12 and Davis added 11 in the victory. On the women’s side, the No. 5 Lady Tigers could not overcome a 17-point halftime deficit. Sylvia Fowles led the way with 25 points and 19 rebounds. Quianna Chaney added 19 for LSU. On Sunday, the Lady Tigers returned to form with a blowout win as Fowles had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Allison Hightower scored 14 points, while Chaney registered 13 points and Porsha Phillips added 10 points. LSU (16-2, 2-1) plays host to Kentucky on Thursday at 7 p.m. and then travels to Alabama on Sunday for a 2 p.m. contest.
The men’s squad plays host to Ole Miss on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and then travels to Arkansas for a 2:45 p.m. contest that will be televised nationally by CBS.
TIGERS’ TRACK AND FIELD SEASON STARTS OFF ON A GOOD NOTE
The LSU track and field season started off with a bang Saturday as six athletes clocked NCAA provisional qualifying times and 10 posted indoor personal bests at the Purple Tiger Indoor Track and Field Classic at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse in Baton Rouge.
Jessica Ohanaja, Nickiesha Wilson and Angel Boyd stole the show for the Lady Tigers as each posted provisional qualifying marks by finishing first, second and third in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles. Ohanaja narrowly edged Wilson for the event title as the duo crossed the finish line in a sizzling 8.17 and 8.18 seconds, respectively.
Ohanaja now ranks sixth on the school’s all-time indoor performance list with her effort, while Wilson follows closely behind in a tie for seventh from her performance in her LSU debut. Boyd also clocked a personal best by crossing the finish line in 8.33 seconds to finish the event in third place.
All-American Kelly Baptiste started her season off on the right foot by taking first place in the 60-meter dash with a provisional qualifying time of 7.30, while Sherry Fletcher finished the event in third place by qualifying provisionally with a personal-best time of 7.44. Distance standout Erin Vandivort clinched the Lady Tigers’ first event title of the meet by clocking the 10th fastest time in school history with a 19:14.07 in the 5,000 meters. Vandivort finished the race approximately 58 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor in just the first indoor 5k run of her LSU career.
Meanwhile, distance runner Kate Accardo set a new personal record of her own and the 10th fastest indoor time in school history by finishing in fourth place in the 3,000 meters after stopping the clock in 10:18.03.
In the field events, Andrea Linton’s won the women’s triple jump and Katelyn Rodrigue’s indoor school record in the pole vault. Linton opened the season with a leap of 40-11 ? in her specialty event, while Rodrigue now ranks No. 1 on the all-time list with a vault of 11-11 ?.
Richard Thompson paced the men’s effort in the sprints by clocking a personal best and provisional qualifying time of 6.72 seconds to finish second in the 60 meters. Thompson improves upon his previous best effort of 6.73 and moves into a tie for third place on the school’s all-time list with former football standout and current New Orleans Saints wide receiver Devery Henderson.
LSU MEN UPSET FSU IN SWIMMING/DIVING DUAL MEET
In a thrilling dual meet that came down to the final race, the 25th-ranked LSU men’s swimming and diving team knocked off No. 10 Florida State, 154-146, on Friday morning at the LSU Natatorium.
The victory was the first for the Tigers over a ranked opponent in dual-meet competition since the 2001-02 season when LSU defeated No. 16 Kentucky, 136-105, in Lexington. It also marks the first win for the program over a top-10 team since the Tigers upset No. 8 Miami (Fla.), 61-52, in Coral Gables.
Ironically, Schmitt’s squad downed a Seminole team that was led by his former teammate Neil Harper, who swam with Schmitt on LSU’s only SEC Championship team in 1988. Harper has served as the head coach at FSU for the past eight seasons.
Meanwhile, the LSU women’s team fought hard but was defeated by the seventh-ranked Florida State women, 180-120, on Friday.
The Tigers captured 12 of the 16 men’s events, which included three individual victories from Julius Gloeckner.
LSU needed to take first place in the final two events of the meet to pull the upset, and the Tigers got it when Gloeckner cruised to victory in the 200 individual medley (1:52.45).
Photo by STEVE FRANZ • LSU * Terry Martin led LSU with 23 points in a 65-63 victory over Auburn, last Saturday. Tasmin Mitchell added 12 points and Glen “Big Baby” Davis scored 11.
