On Friday, the LSU women’s basketball team will take the court against Rice as a No. 3 seed in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
That same day, the Tigers' softball team, which began the season on a 24-game winning streak before dropping two at Ole Miss, will head out on the road to take on Missouri.
On Saturday, top-seeded LSU’s gymnastics team will take the floor in the Southeastern Conference Championship meet at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
It’s worth taking a moment to reflect on what is almost certainly an unprecedented time in LSU women’s athletics. Each team is worthy of appreciation.
Coach Kim Mulkey’s basketball team is the reigning national champion and will open this year's quest for a repeat at its home court at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, where fans will clamor to see stars such as Angel Reese, Flau'jae Johnson, Aneesah Morrow and Hailey Van Lith.
If the Tigers win the first two games, they could face tough opponents such as UCLA or Iowa, the latter of whom they defeated in a memorable title game last year. A rematch against Iowa's Caitlin Clark, who recently surpassed Maravich and become the NCAA's all-time leading scorer, would be a showdown for the ages.
On the diamond, Beth Torina’s softball team has risen as high as No. 2 in the nation, led by standouts including Sydney Berzon, Taylor Pleasants, Ciara Briggs and Daneica Coffey.
And the gymnastics team will take the floor at the SEC Championships as the No. 1 seed in Session II as it begins the postseason chasing that elusive first national championship. With four Top 10 gymnasts — Haleigh Bryant, Konnor McClain, Kiya Johnson and Aleah Finnegan — coach Jay Clark's team has more than a shot.
It’s not just on the field that they are ushering in the new era. These Tigers are helping to drive massive changes in the way college athletes — especially women — are perceived.
Gymnast Olivia Dunn — Livvy to her millions of fans on Instagram — was among the first and biggest to cash in on name, image and likeness deals, turning her social media popularity into a lucrative business.
Reese, known as “Bayou Barbie,” has shown a fierce competitiveness that at times has absorbed blowback. But she has earned support from luminaries like Shaquille O'Neal, as well as the respect of her peers.
Through an NIL deal, Reese will star alongside her mother in commercials highlighting ongoing racial and gender wealth gaps.
Just over 50 years after Title IX opened doors for women in athletics, these women are not only succeeding in competition and drawing fans, they are also on the forefront of changing the rules on what roles college athletes can play in society at large.
We join the throngs cheering them on.