By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
NATCHITOCHES – The 100th Natchitoches Christmas Festival picked up star power Tuesday.
Kim Mulkey and her LSU women’s basketball team, including Bossier City-Parkway products Mikaylah Williams and Chloe Larry, are visiting the City of Lights to play at Northwestern State – where Williams’ mother played.
NSU welcomes LSU to Prather Coliseum on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 6 – the day following the annual Christmas Festival parade and the biggest fireworks show of the season.
It is the first time the Lady Demons have hosted LSU since 1983-84. The Tigers will be the first power conference opponent to come to Natchitoches since Alabama in the 1997-98 season.
The game will surely sell out Prather Coliseum, which has a listed capacity of 3,400 but has accommodated crowds near 4,000 by using extended seating at the north end of the arena. Ticket plans will be announced later, NSU officials said.
Two years ago, Mulkey brought Williams and the Tigers to the Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier CIty for a game against Grambling, attracting a crowd announced at 8,299 fans.
Williams, a three-year All-SEC guard, is the daughter of former Northwestern player LaTonya Perry, a productive Lady Demon forward from 2002-05. She was part of a 2004 Southland Conference regular-season and tournament championship team that played in the NCAA Tournament.
Both schools announced their full schedules Tuesday. Undoubtedly LSU’s Dec. 20 collision with UConn in Nashville drew most of the nation’s attention and is top billing on a tougher-than-usual non-conference slate for the Tigers, but the visit to Northwestern has regional appeal.
The matchup resulted from Mulkey’s friendship with new Northwestern coach Alan Frey.
Mulkey endorsed Frey, a longtime Tulane assistant who also had deep ties into south Louisiana AAU basketball network, for the Northwestern job after Anna Nimz departed NSU for North Alabama in March.
The LSU contest is the highlight of a difficult non-conference schedule for Northwestern, one that sees it face three SEC opponents and a Big 12 foe, and also includes rekindling a long dormant neighborhood series with Louisiana Tech. Former NSU coach Brooke Stoehr, who led the Lady Demons to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and a CIT berth, left to take over the Tech program after the 2016 postseason.
“This non-conference schedule is an absolute celebration of Natchitoches and north Louisiana basketball, and it will challenge our team from day one,” Frey said. “Bringing a powerhouse like LSU right here to our community is a historic milestone, and we want to truly thank Kim Mulkey for her commitment to keeping elite matchups inside our state borders and bringing her team to Prather Coliseum.”
The LSU contest is the last of three NSU games against SEC foes. Northwestern goes to Arkansas on Nov. 6 and visits Oklahoma on Nov. 19.
The Lady Demons visit the Lady Techsters on Nov. 12 in the first meeting since a 69-57 victory by the Stoehr-coached NSU team early in the 2014-15 season in Natchitoches. Tech drubbed Northwestern 77-40 a year earlier in Ruston in Stoehr’s second season in Natchitoches.
Another interesting contest follows four days later when LSU Shreveport, an NAIA power, visits Prather Coliseum on Nov. 16. NSU will host UL Lafayette Nov. 27.
“Having UL Lafayette visit gives our local fans another high-stakes Louisiana battle right on our home floor,” Frey said. “When you combine that premier home slate with a grueling, historic North Louisiana rivalry game over at Louisiana Tech, followed by relentless road environments at Arkansas, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma, we have built a true gauntlet.
“This schedule is intentionally designed to ignite the passion of basketball fans across our region and perfectly prepare our squad to compete for a Southland Conference championship.”
LSU’s non-conference schedule also includes neutral site games against North Carolina State and Villanova, and a visit to North Carolina. The Tigers have 17 home games at the Maravich Assembly Center.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com