Lady Tigers ranked 17th in coaches poll

• Advocate news services
• Published: Nov 5, 2009

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The LSU women’s basketball team returned to the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, earning a No. 17 ranking in the preseason Top 25 released Wednesday.

Defending national champion Connecticut is the unanimous No. 1 with all 31 first-place votes. Stanford, Ohio State, Baylor and North Carolina round out the top five. Tennessee at No. 9 and Vanderbilt at No. 20 join LSU as Southeastern Conference teams in the poll. The Lady Tigers received 298 points.

LSU is ranked No. 9 in The Associated Press preseason poll. LSU is ranked for the 11th straight season in the coaches preseason poll.

LSU hosts Centenary in the 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. Tuesday at the PMAC.

HIGHTOWER CANDIDATE FOR LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD: LSU senior guard Allison Hightower is one of 30 candidates for the 2009-10 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.

The award, which is presented to women’s college basketball’s top student-athlete, is given to a player who excels both on and off the floor.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas — classroom, character, community and competition.

Hightower, the 2010 Southeastern Conference Preseason Player of the Year, returns as the leader of an LSU team that reached the NCAA tournament’s second round a season ago. She averaged 14.9 points per game, which ranked fifth in the SEC, and led LSU in five other categories as well.

Hightower has played in 105 career games and seeks to become the 28th Lady Tiger to reach the 1,000-point plateau as she sits at 943 career points.

Since her arrival at LSU in 2006, Hightower has spoken to children at schools in the Baton Rouge area and put on basketball clinics.

In the classroom, Hightower was a member of the 2009 SEC winter academic honor roll.

From the list of 30 candidates, a national media committee will select 10 finalists for the 2009-10 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in late January. Those 10 will then be placed on the official ballot for a nationwide vote beginning Feb. 3 and concluding March 17.

Fan balloting will then be coupled with votes from coaches and media to determine the winner.