By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports

BATON ROUGE – It’s just the first exhibition game of the 2023-24 season for top-ranked and defending NCAA women’s basketball national champion LSU when it welcomes East Texas Baptist tonight at 7 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

But for Lady Tigers’ true freshman Mikaylah Williams, it’s more than just a glorified practice that doesn’t count in the won-loss column.

“This is something I’ve dreamed of,” said Williams, the former Parkway High School star who was the 2022 and 2023 Miss Louisiana basketball honoree and the 2023 Morgan Wooten National Player of the Year. “Now, I’m just living out my dream.”

On a team full of stars – four of LSU’s projected starters are on the All-SEC preseason first and second teams – Williams is taking the humble approach at the start of a college career that figures to lead to her playing professionally.

“I’m just being an open book and learning from everybody, especially the vets like Hailey (Van Lith), Angel (Reese) and even Flau’jae (Johnson),” Williams said. “Just taking that in and putting into the game.

“Coming in, everybody accepted me and my role and what I can do here. I don’t feel like there’s any pressure.”

And what exactly is Williams’ role? She’s listed as a 6-foot guard, but LSU head coach Kim Mulkey already projects Williams in multiple spots.

“She can also play any position on the perimeter and that may not be fair to her,” Mulkey said of Williams. “Because I may one day have her playing point guard, the next day I may have her at off-guard. That’s tough, particularly if you’re having to learn the point guard position.”

With Mulkey able to plug in Williams just about anywhere on the court, the key prize in LSU’s No.1 incoming nationally-ranked recruiting class gives the Lady Tigers a myriad of lineup options it didn’t have last season in capturing the school’s first national title in the sport.

“I’ll play whatever position that’s best for us to win,” Williams said.

Williams is the third player Mulkey has signed during her coaching career who won back-to-back Miss Louisiana basketball awards.

In Mulkey’s previous job as Baylor’s head coach, she signed center Kalani Brown of Salmen High in 2015 and guard Moon Ursin of Destrehan (La.) High in 2017.

Brown was Miss Louisiana Basketball in 2014 and 2015, and Ursin won the honor in 2016 and 2017. They were starters on Mulkey’s third and final Baylor national title team in 2019.

Previous LSU women’s coach Nikki Fargas signed one Miss Louisiana basketball – Walker’s Tiara Young in 2019 – in her 10 seasons guiding the Lady Tigers. Young transferred after two seasons to Houston.

Williams said LSU was on her list of schools she considered before Mulkey was hired in April 2021, but she put LSU higher on the list once Mulkey took over.

“I love Coach Mulkey,” Williams said. “She’s real fired up and feisty. I know that she has my back, and I have hers. I came in here looking forward to her getting on my butt so I can get to the next level.

“Her compassion and the passion she has for the game makes her somebody I want to play for.”

Parkway won 58 of 61 games in Williams’ final two years in high school. The more Mulkey watched, the more she knew Williams could step into a major college playing rotation from day one.

“Mikaylah brings a physical body that’s ready for this level,” Mulkey said. “The first thing you’ll notice is she’s pretty physical.”

After a few weeks of preseason practice, Williams already didn’t seem like a freshman to her more seasoned teammates.

“Mikaylah is going to be a problem (for opponents),” said Reese, LSU’s returning junior first-team All-America forward. “Have y’all seen her moves? She has smooth moves. She works really hard, and I think she comes in super confident like Flau’jae was last year.”

And speaking of Johnson, last season’s SEC Freshman of the Year, she has enough confidence for herself and Williams.

“Mikaylah is going to have her freshmen things like all freshmen do because you’ve got to learn the system,” Johnson said. “But I told her she’s at a standard where she needs to be National Freshman of the Year. You know what I mean? Like she’s THAT good. I told her that.

“She was like, ‘I want to be SEC Freshman of the Year.’ I told her `You’re going to be National Freshman of the Year if you keep playing like you’re playing.’”

Van Lith, the top-rated player in the transfer portal from Louisville, also has been suitably dazzled by Williams.

“She’s very talented and very strong,” Van Lith said. “She can pass and score at three levels. It’s very rare to see a freshman with that type of skill level.”

Since Williams had made trips to Baton Rouge before she enrolled to watch Mulkey’s practices – which are often extremely competitive considering the amount of talent and trash-talking that permeates the Lady Tigers’ on-court persona — Williams’ transition has been seamless.

“There’s a lot of it,” Williams said of the verbal back-and-forth in practices and scrimmages. “I feel like I knew what I was getting into with all this talent. With this team, the starting five doesn’t really matter.

“I love competitive people. We all push each other, which will lead us back to that national championship stage.”

Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com

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