Can LSU make it five in a row?

LSU’s women’s basketball team officially begins the “Drive for Five” on Saturday when the Lady Tigers host Jackson State in the opening round of the 2008 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 9:30 p.m. CDT.

LSU (27-5) is the No. 2 seed in the New Orleans Region and will take on No. 15 seed Jackson State in the final game of four games played in the Maravich Center on Saturday.

The Lady Tigers, the sixth-ranked team in the nation, is trying to advance to the program’s fifth straight NCAA Women’s Final Four.

LSU is making the program’s 18th NCAA Tournament appearance and this is the 10th straight season the Lady Tigers have made the Field of 64. Each of the last four years LSU has reached the national semifinals before bowing out.

Van Chancellor, the SEC Coach of the Year, returns to the NCAA Tournament as a head coach for the first time since leading Ole Miss into the tournament 1996, his second to last season as the Lady Rebels coach.

Southeastern Conference Player of the Year Sylvia Fowles leads LSU into the tournament. The 6-6 senior center is averaging 17.2 points and 9.9 rebounds per game entering the NCAA Tournament.

Quianna Chaney, who joined Fowles as a first-team All-SEC selection, is averaging 15.0 points per game entering tournament action, while Erica White, a second-team All-SEC honoree, is scoring 7.3 points and dishing out 4.4 assists per contest.

The Lady Tigers enter the tournament having won four of its last five games. The lone loss was to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament title game back on March 9 in Nashville.

Jackson State (18-13) won the SWAC Tournament championship to receive the conference’s automatic bid.

The JSU Tigers are led by Denise Taylor in her seventh season as head coach. This is JSU’s fourth NCAA Tournament appearance and the first since 1995.

The tournament in Baton Rouge gets underway with the pod of the Oklahoma City Region. No. 2 seed Texas A&M will face No. 15 seed Texas-San Antonio at 11 a.m. CDT followed by No. 7 seed Syracuse and No. 10 seed Hartford at approximately 1:30 p.m.

The New Orleans Region pod, LSU’s region, will begin at 7 p.m. CST with No. 7 seed Marist against No. 10 seed DePaul. The game will be followed by the Lady Tigers’ contest with Jackson State.