By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, TIGER RAG Staff Writer
Kim Mulkey’s No. 5 LSU crushed Langston 121-41 in its final exhibition leading up to the season opener on Tuesday against Houston Christian.
But that wasn’t the most crushing event on campus Thursday night in Mulkey’s eyes. LSU Athletics Director Scott Woodward, who hired Mulkey in April of 2021, agreed to part ways with LSU during the game.
Mulkey didn’t appear at the podium for the post-game presser, Associate Head Coach Bob Stark spoke in Mulkey’s stead.
“Yeah, she’s heartbroken,” Starkey said.
Starkey worked with Woodward twice during his 40 years of coaching. When Starkey coached with both the men and women’s basketball programs in the 2000s, Woodward worked for LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert in the LSU Chancellor’s Office and when he came back to help Mulkey coach LSU in 2022. He also worked with Woodward in his time coaching at Texas A&M. Starkey says Woodward was an essential part of reviving LSU’s women’s basketball program.
“He did a lot of things through the support of Chancellor Emmert that helped our program become relevant when we hadn’t been relevant before,” Starkey said. “We had an ear and a friend in the Chancellor’s office,” Starkey said.
For someone who has been around Woodward a bunch, Starkey believes he did a phenomenal job.
“I was fortunate to work for Scott at Texas A&M, where he did an amazing job. Trust me, I was there, he did an amazing job,” Starkey said. “40 years of collegiate coaching, I worked for two phenomenal athletic directors. One was Skip Bertman and the other one was Scott Woodward.”
It’s hard to ignore what’s going on in Baton Rouge. When Mulkey got to Baton Rouge, Woodward was the AD and William F. Tate IV was the president. Now, both are gone. LSU’s leadership changes have been the talk of the town this past week. When asked what LSU can do to improve its leadership, Starkey gave a safe response.
“I don’t have an answer for that. I think I’m going to do the intelligent thing and stay in my lane on this one,” Starkey said.
Back to the game.
Senior transfer forward Amiya Joyner was outstanding for the Tigers as she was recorded a double-double, scoring 24 points while being perfect from the field (9/9 FG) and grabbing 11 boards. Starkey said Joyner’s presence and physicality was hard to ignore tonight.
“Amiya is incredibly physical, but she also has a finesse to her game,” Starkey said. “If you watch her finish around the rim, she can give you a finger roll or a little jump hook.”
LSU’s other transfer post-player addition, sophomore Kate Koval, also recorded a double-double. Koval, who is 6-5, scored 12 points and added 11 rebounds. Starkey said the post play is in a better position this season.
“I feel like you have her, you have Kate and you have Megan (Yarnevich). Those are three physical players that aren’t afraid of contact,” Starkey said. “And it gives you a presence inside on both ends of the floor and I think it’ll make us better.”
LSU’s best runs of the night were sparked from forcing turnovers.
The Tigers had 20 steals and three blocks while forcing the Lions to turn the ball over a draw-dropping 36 times. Starkey was very pleased with the team’s defensive effort.
“Our defense was really good today. And that’s not in conjunction with the team we played,” Starkey said. “We haven’t been helping and recovering. Our rotations have been poor. And I felt really good about how our kids responded and played today defensively.”
LSU will set its eyes on the season opener against Houston Christian for next Tuesday, Nov. 4. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
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