When LSU women’s basketball’s MiLaysia Fulwiley stepped onto the court against South Carolina two weeks ago, she was greeted with cheers from the home crowd.

It was the first time Fulwiley faced her former team after spending two seasons with the Gamecocks, where she averages 11.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals.

After the 2024-25 season, she shocked the college basketball world by deciding to transfer from her hometown and sign with the LSU Tigers and head coach Kim Mulkey.

The ride for Fulwiley in Baton Rouge has been a rollercoaster with plenty of ups and downs.

Through the first 21 games, Fulwiley was everything LSU imagined. During that stretch, she averaged 14.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.4 steals and 1.1 blocks.

“She’s beaten me too many times for me not to have taken her into this program, ” Mulkey said after LSU’s first open practice. “Ballers want to play with ballers, and she’s going to be fun to watch. I think the fans already know how good she is and all the spectacular things she does on the floor. And now the LSU fans get to cheer for her instead of booing her.”

She was electric, a menace on defense and a perfect fit for an already talented roster, even though she came off the bench.

The game-breaking plays that Mulkey once saw as an opposing coach were now on her side, and for any hope of a national championship, Fulwiley would be a key part of the team.

However, with the highs came the lows. Fulwiley went through a five-game scoring slump starting at the end of January, averaging only seven points, 3.2 turnovers and shooting 27.3% from the field.

While Mulkey understood that this was just a bump in the road, Fulwiley’s struggles to score efficiently and not taking care of the ball were still a concern.

“I think she’s come a long way,” Mulkey said. “Some of the things she does, you do live with, but not until you continue to make her better in certain areas. You don’t just look the other way and let it cost you a game.”

Of course, Gamecock fans were quick to laugh and say, “I told you so” when they heard what Mulkey said. It just added more fuel to the fire for the two teams’ rivalry game on Valentine’s Day.

For Fulwiley, she knew what type of game it was going to be, and it was something that she had been waiting all season for.

“Feb. 14 is gonna be the game that’s kinda circled on my calendar,” Fulwiley said on the CBS Sports’ “We Need to Talk Now” podcast in November.

A packed house with both LSU and South Carolina fans, everyone was waiting for what “revenge” Fulwiley had stored for her former team.

Unfortunately for Fulwiley, it was a poor performance, finishing with six points, four steals and three turnovers while shooting 1-for-8 from the field. And to cap things off, South Carolina once again walked away with the road win, defeating the Tigers 79-72.

Surely Fulwiley wanted a better performance, but with multiple big games still on the schedule, she couldn’t get too down on herself.

Ole Miss was next, a ranked opponent with home-court advantage on its side. The Tigers found themselves in a 13-point deficit halfway through the third quarter and were on the verge of losing back-to-back games.

It was Fulwiley who helped lead her team to a comeback, finishing with 26 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Fulwiley set a new career-high in points, using her tremendous speed to beat defenders and attack downhill.

“God blessed this child with speed,” Mulkey said. “I wouldn’t want to be on that floor with her because when she takes off, you’d better put it in high gear because she’ll find you. And a lot of times, honestly, she looks to pass too much. She needs to get to the rim, finish and draw fouls.”

The cloud of doubt that brewed over her was starting to clear, but the biggest question mark was consistency. Fulwiley is a talented basketball player, but the more consistent she is, the more dangerous LSU is.

She followed up her 26-point game with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals Sunday against Missouri. She also shot 7-for-11 from the field, 6-for-9 from the 3-point line and committed one turnover.

“She’s just a spark naturally,” freshman forward ZaKiyah Johnson said following the win over Missouri. “She doesn’t need any shots. She’ll come in there, she’ll take the ball from you. She’s a very good defensive player, and it does fire everybody up from the crowd to our bench, our coaches when she’s scoring.”

With the NCAA Tournament right around the corner, there’s no better time for Fulwiley to start heating up. While she can impact the game on the defensive end and change the pace offensively, her scoring is contagious.

“I think today she had a good day, and it’s really exciting to see how far she’s going to go,” Johnson said.