In the reigning national champion Lady Tigers’ exhibition debut against East Texas Baptist University, the starting five featured all new faces. There may be a few shining stars on this team, but tonight everyone got their chance in the spotlight.

Freshmen Mikaylah Williams, Janae Kent and Aalyah Del Rosario played alongside transfers Hailey Van Lith and Aneesah Morrow for LSU in the first minutes of the exhibition. Each one showed out and contributed to the 99 total points for the Tigers.

“Oh my goodness!” Head Coach Kim Mulkey said when media pointed out the starting lineup was all newcomers. “I wanted to see the new ones. I wanted to see them have an opportunity to start in an LSU uniform because some may never until their turn comes.”

After an off season packed with practices, each lineup had good chemistry and kept each other pumped up with energy. As the starters made their LSU debuts, they seemed to fit right in with the familiar talent.

“My goal is to win ball games,” Coach Mulkey said. “It may be situations where I can play a lot of them but it may be games where you go with the most experienced players you have. I have options, you’re exactly right.”

Having options will come in handy later in the season as the No. 1 ranked Lady Tigers are set to face six teams that are currently ranked in the top 25 in the regular season.

“I think it makes us very unique,” Van Lith said. “We’re super versatile. We have a lot of people who can play multiple positions and we’re just continuing to find those best rotations and figuring that out as the season goes on. We’ll only get better from here.”

The Purple and Gold have one more exhibition game left on Nov. 1 before the regular season tips off.