JOURNAL STAFF
When considering who should be the Shreveport-Bossier Journal Sportsperson of the Year for 2023, there was no shortage of strong candidates.
But Mikaylah Williams’ string of success through the year was incomparable. The LSU freshman basketball star has sustained her level of excellence from leading Parkway High School’s state championship season, through being a fine competitor for the Lady Panthers in softball and track and field, graduating at the top of her class, earning her second straight MVP award on the USA Basketball age group 3-on-3 gold medal team, and seamlessly stepping into Kim Mulkey’s starting five with the Tigers.
She was a unanimous choice of the SBJ staff for the award. The Journal’s inaugural Sportsperson of the Year capping 2022 was Shreveport native and PGA Tour star Sam Burns, who was one of several top-notch contenders for this year’s honor after earning his first spot on the USA Ryder Cup team.
Burns was joined in the top four for 2023 by Airline product Hayden Travinski, who became LSU’s biggest bat in the second half of the Tiger baseball team’s College World Series championship season; and Rodney Guin, the 16-year veteran local high school football coach who steered Calvary Baptist to an unlikely unbeaten season against a challenging non-district slate and a postseason run to a state championship triumph at the LHSAA’s Prep Classic in the Caesars Superdome.
There were even more quality nominees considered, but Williams’ consistent brilliance made her the stand-alone selection.
Parkway was unbeaten in the state in its 2022-23 basketball season as the Lady Panthers set their sights on a return trip to Marsh Madness in Hammond, and a happy return home this time around. A double-overtime 80-79 loss in the state finals to Ponchatoula ended Williams’ junior season.
It was avenged in this year’s championship game – by a blowout 80-57 margin over Ponchatoula, as Williams scored 34 points and snagged 11 rebounds. She had 23 points, 17 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in a 61-28 semifinal rout of Barbe. The Lady Panthers hammered each of their postseason foes and finished with a 30-5 overall record.
Williams was the Non-Select Division I tournament Most Valuable Player, and she also had to be hustled back on the court after draining a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer in the state finals to receive her All-Academic Award among the elite girls’ scholar-athletes in a presentation at intermission.
She repeated as the Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year and claimed her second Miss Louisiana Basketball from the Louisiana Sportswriters Association. The 6-0 guard was rated as the nation’s No. 1 senior by at least three recruiting services and was named the 2023 Morgan Wooten National Player of the Year while starring in the McDonald’s High School All-America Game.
The biggest challenge for the SBJ staff was figuring out what photo to use in the graphic. During the summer, she was named the MVP at the FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup while leading the USA to gold.
She has started all 13 games this season for LSU and is the Tigers’ second-leading scorer with a 17.2 average, topped by a program freshman-record 42 while sinking 15 of 20 shots from the floor, including five 3-pointers, Nov. 14 against Kent State. LSU (12-1) has recovered from an opening loss to then No. 20 Colorado (when Williams led the Tigers with 17 points) and is ranked seventh nationally heading into 2024 and the defense of last year’s national championship.
Williams already ranks among Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer Alana Beard as the most highly-sought girls’ basketball recruit from Shreveport-Bossier, and is on pace to rival Beard’s legendary college accomplishments at Duke and her professional success overseas and in the WNBA.
Like Beard, she subjugates her individual statistics to play whatever role her team needs, for coach Gloria Williams at Parkway and now for Mulkey on the star-studded LSU roster.
That makes her a fitting winner of this year’s Sportsperson of the Year honor – and a tough act to follow.