Mikaylah Williams shines in LSU's 109-79 victory over Kent State

Mikaylah Williams came to LSU as the No. 1 women's basketball recruit in the nation this offseason. The true freshman from Parkway High School in Louisiana stepped into a locker room filled to the brim with super stars. With players like Angel Reese, Flau'jae Johnson, Haley Van Lith and Annesah Morrow already in the building, it felt like the freshman would have to wait her turn before she began to earn meaningful minutes, but she worked hard and it didn't take long for Mulkey to take notice.

In the Tigers first exhibition game, Williams earned her first start alongside a team full of newcomers. Kim Mulkey wanted to see her new pieces take the floor together, and it resulted in a 26-5 lead by the time they were pulled.

In the second exhibition, Mulkey put out her all-star squad of Angel Reese, Aneesah Morrow, Haley Van Lith, Flau'jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams. When asked after the game about her choice to start those five, she told the media she believed those would be the starting five for the season opener against Colorado, and about a week later, Mikaylah Williams trotted out of the tunnel in Las Vegas as a starter for the defending national champions in her first regular season collegiate game.

Williams had an okay first game, all she did was lead the team in scoring with 17 points while shooting 50-percent from both the field and from three. Williams has since started in both of the Tigers games since their opener, scoring nine and 20 points respectively.

Tuesday morning, Williams got the nod for her fourth consecutive start. In the first half, Williams earned 11 minutes of playing time, and she balled out, scoring 10 points, hauling in seven boards and dishing out a pair of assists.

While her first half performance was impressive, her second half showing was something out of a movie. She scored 32 points in the final 20 minutes of the game to finish with 42 points on 15-of-20 from the field, seven rebounds and three assists. Her 42 points is the 8th most in a single game and the most points by a freshman in LSU Women's Basketball history.

We got the chance to speak to Mikaylah about her performance after the game, and she took a very humble approach while answering questions.

"I think my teammates knew I had the hot hand, so I applaud them for finding me and I was just executing on the shots...It's just in me. I work to put out what I put out and I applaud my teammates for finding the hot hand and helping me be successful."

Mikaylah Williams

Despite being easily the best player on the court Tuesday, Williams took the time to praise her teammates for finding her, knowing she had the hot hand. On a team full of stars, it's easy to want to praise yourself after a game like she had today, but instead, she gave all the praise to her teammates, and that's exactly what you want in a superstar player.

We also had the chance to talk to Kim Mulkey after the game about Williams' performance and growth this season. Here's what LSU's head coach had to say about her freshman point guard:

"Well you saw it today. You saw it in the Colorado game. For a true freshman to come in here in four ball games and be so consistent in her performance, she's had some bad things like giving up threes in the last game, but consistently she tries not to be a liability on the floor. She's trying to do it on both ends of the floor. She just has the physical body and the tools to rebound, take you off the dribble, shoot the three, she's great at the mid range, and they gave her the three today and she was feeling it."

Kim Mulkey

This was truly one of the greatest individual performances from an LSU player in program history, and she's only four games into her career. Williams has all the tools to be the next LSU superstar, and she's already miles ahead of where anyone expected her to be.