RUSTON, La. - Tenth-ranked Louisiana Tech (7-2) will host second-ranked Tennessee (6-0) Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center in the annual showdown in arguably the most historic series in women's college basketball over the past 22 years.
The 33rd meeting between the two storied programs will be televised live on Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Southwest. Tech leads the series 17-15.
From the very first meeting between the two programs - a 74-56 win by Tech in 1978-79 - to last year's 69-64 victory by the Lady Techsters in Knoxville, Barmore and company have always cherished the game.
"It's been our best rivalry through the years," said Lady Techster head coach Leon Barmore. "It's been these games that have given me some of my greatest memories. There has definitely been some good ones when these two teams have met, and we've been right there most of the time."
The two programs have combined for nine national championships, 19 national title game appearances, 38 NCAA Tournament appearances and 1,571 wins, and boast the two winningest coaches in the history of the game in Barmore (527-79/.869) and Pat Summitt (734-150/.830).
Tech enters the contest on the heels of an 83-65 win over No. 14 Mississippi State Thursday night, a game that the Lady Techsters led throughout.
"Our team certainly needed confidence after playing so poorly against Houston," Barmore said. "That was the most important thing from the Mississippi State game - regaining our confidence. It was a major win for us."
In that contest, Tech held MSU Kodak All-American LaToya Thomas to only 14 points. However, Barmore said facing Tennessee is a totally different monster.
"Tamika Catchings is a better basketball player than LaToya Thomas," said Barmore, referring to one of Tennessee's two returning Kodak All-Americans. "In fact Tennessee has (a number of players) as talented as LaToya Thomas. Thomas didn't apply herself as much as you'll see these Tennessee players apply themselves in this game. This is the toughest task we'll have up to this point, and we are all aware of it."
Catchings leads the Lady Vols offensively averaging 15.3 points and 7.3 rebounds a game, while Semeka Randall's 12.3 points and Gwen Jackson's 11.0 points a game supplement the Tennessee attack.
The Lady Vols are outrebounding their opponents 46.2-31.5, while the Lady Techsters have outrebounded their adversaries 44.1-34.1, including dominating Mississippi State 46-24 Thursday night. Barmore said controlling the boards is one of the keys to the game.
"The rebounding battle has always been big in this game," Barmore said. "If we get beat on the boards there is no way to win."
A near sellout crowd is expected for the contest, but tickets are still available and can be purchased at the Tech Ticket Office beginning at 10 a.m. For more information on tickets, call 257-3631.
The contest can be heard live on KXKZ-FM 107.5 (Ruston), KBYO-FM 104.5 (Tallulah-Vicksburg) and KEEL-AM (710) Shreveport as well as via the Internet on www.kxkz1075.com.
