Rabalais: Experience key for LSU

• By SCOTT RABALAIS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Mar 29, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:15 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Aretha Franklin sang about it. Everyone craves it. Most people expect it, especially after they’ve put in their dues over the years.

If you’ve ever expected respect, you can imagine how Oklahoma State point guard Andrea Riley’s comments about LSU went over like a sour lemon when the Lady Tigers got to the podium Friday at the NCAA New Orleans regional.

This is Oklahoma State’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 1991, which is so long ago that back then Sylvia Fowles could only dunk donuts. That’s a milestone for a program fighting to carve out a slice of respect after going 0-16 in the Big 12 just two short seasons ago.

This is LSU’s sixth straight regional semifinal. Seeing as the Lady Tigers are on a quest for their fifth straight Final Four, getting to this point is not so much an achievement as a mile marker.

The fourth-year Lady Tiger seniors have played in 17 NCAA tournament games. None of the Cowgirls have played in more than three. You have to think experience could count for something in today’s contest, right Ms. Riley?

“Experience is overrated,” said Riley, a 5-foot-5 sophomore point guard who backs up her talk with 23 points per game. “It’s just a matter of who comes out and plays the hardest and wants the game.

“We’re not satisfied because we just made it here. We’re just going to go out there with a lot of confidence. This is just another team we’re playing. They’re great, I’m not doubting that, but you can’t go out there being intimidated about the name.”

When Riley’s comments were relayed to LSU senior point guard Erica White, who will be the Lady Tigers’ first line of defense today against Oklahoma State’s top scorer, I thought I detected an arched “Oh, really?” eyebrow.

“I think experience is the best teacher,” said White in a serious, I’m-about-to-teach-somebody-a-lesson sort of way. “I would like for that player to try to get to the Final Four a couple of times and come back and tell me if experience is overrated. I don’t think you can speak on it unless you’ve been there.”

I would like to have had an infrared image of White at that moment. I’m certain it would have shown a heat plume rising from above her head.

White vs. Riley was already going to be a delicious matchup, arguably the nation’s best defensive point guard against arguably the nation’s best offensive point guard.