Lady Tigers ranked No. 9 in Associated Press poll

• Advocate news services
• Published: Oct 31, 2009

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The LSU women’s basketball team received a No. 9 ranking in The Associated Press preseason poll released Friday.

This is the 11th time in school history the Lady Tigers were ranked in the top 10 of the AP preseason poll.

LSU is the second highest ranked Southeastern Conference team in the poll. Tennessee is ranked No. 8, Georgia is No. 21 and Vanderbilt is No. 22.

Connecticut, the defending national champion, is a unanimous preseason No. 1 after receiving all 40 first-place votes. Stanford, Ohio State, Notre Dame and North Carolina round out the top five.

LSU is one of eight teams in the poll not ranked at the end of last season. The others are Michigan State, DePaul, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Georgia, Middle Tennessee State and Rutgers. The Lady Tigers received 600 points in the poll. Tennessee garnered 676 points.

It’s LSU’s first poll appearance since it was ranked 24th in the preseason last year.

The 2009-10 Lady Tigers were picked to win the SEC in the annual media poll. They feature the 2010 SEC preseason player of the year in Allison Hightower and the 2009 SEC co-freshman of the year in LaSondra Barrett. LSU returns four starters from its 2009 NCAA tournament team.

LSU hosts Centenary in its season opener at 2 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Lady Tigers play an exhibition against Loyola-New Orleans at 7 p.m. Nov. 10.

Season tickets for LSU women’s basketball are now on sale at the LSU athletics ticket office located on the first floor of the Athletic Administration Building. Tickets can also be purchased online at LSUsports.net or by calling 1-800-960-TKTS or 225-578-2184.