Hightower preseason player of year; Lady Tigers 2nd

• Advocate news services
• Published: Oct 30, 2009

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The preseason honors continue to roll in for LSU senior guard Allison Hightower, who was named the Southeastern Conference’s preseason player of the year Thursday in a voting of the league’s coaches.

The Lady Tigers were picked second in the SEC in the coaches poll. Tennessee was predicted to win the SEC regular-season championship over LSU by one vote.

The Lady Vols were 22-11, 9-5 in the SEC last season. The Lady Tigers (19-11, 10-4) were picked to win the league by the media last week.

“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 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.”

Mississippi State, Georgia, Vanderbilt and South Carolina round out the top half of the league with Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Alabama rounding out the lower half. Hightower garnered nine of the 12 votes for player of the year. Georgia’s Ashley Houts and Angel Robinson and Ole Miss’ Bianca Thomas each received a vote. Hightower was also selected as the SEC preseason player of the year by the media last week.

Hightower, who averaged 14.9 points per game as a junior, is joined on the All-SEC first team by LSU sophomore LaSondra Barrett. Barrett was the 2009 SEC co-freshman of the year.

Hightower and Houts were the only unanimous picks.

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.

LSU plays host to Centenary in the season-opener on Nov. 15 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Lady Tigers play an exhibition game against Loyola-New Orleans on Nov. 10.

On Sunday at center court of the Mall of Louisiana, the Lady Tigers will sign autographs and take pictures with fans from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Free posters and autograph cards will be available. Admission is free. Season tickets and miniticket packages will be on sale.

SEC COACHES PRESEASON POLL                    

School Points Record (SEC)