BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU women’s basketball guards Mikaylah Williams and MiLaysia Fulwiley received recognition Monday from the league’s media members as selections for the preseason All-SEC teams.
Williams was named to the All-SEC First Team, while Fulwiley was featured on the All-SEC Second Team. LSU was picked to finish third behind South Carolina and Texas with Vanderbilt and Kentucky rounding out the top five. The preseason poll consisted of votes from a panel of both SEC and national media members.
Coach Kim Mulkey returns key players including Williams, a first-team All-SEC guard and Fulwiley, the 2026 SEC Sixth Woman of the Year for her sixth season in Baton Rouge. Three sophomores from the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class a season ago return including ZaKiyah Johnson, an All-SEC freshman, Grace Knox and Meghan Yarnevich.
Joining LSU’s team from the transfer portal includes point guard Jada Williams from Iowa State, guard Laila Reynolds from Florida and guard Chloe Larry from Tennessee Tech. Newcomers to the college basketball scene include LSU’s freshman Lola Lampley out of Indiana and international standouts Noa Morro from Spain and Anna Minaeva from Russia. Collectively, LSU returned five players and welcomed six newcomers to round out its roster of 11.
Williams enters her fourth season at LSU as one of the top returning guards in the country. She is coming off a strong junior campaign after being a part of LSU’s fourth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance. Williams is one of the purest scorers on the women’s basketball scene with the ability to impact the game from anywhere on the court, offensively and defensively.
One of the three mainstays in LSU’s starting lineup a season ago, Williams led the Tigers in three-point field goals made (50), defensive rebounds (159), assists (127) and minutes (999). She averaged 14.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game, which garnered her an honorable mention on the Associated Press All-America list and earned her a spot on the All-SEC First Team. In her junior season, Williams eclipsed 1,500 career points against Tennessee and 500 career rebounds against South Carolina in the SEC Tournament semifinal.
Fulwiley, a game changing 5-10 guard, has been one of the nation’s most creative offensive players since she began her college career. In three seasons, she has come off the bench in 108 games with four starts (3 at South Carolina, 1 at LSU) and has averaged 12.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Fulwiley has one national title, two Final Four appearances and a Sweet 16 finish over her three years at the collegiate level.
In the 2025-26 season, Fulwiley was LSU’s leading scorer with 511 points and paced the Tigers in made field goals with 190. Named SEC Sixth Woman of the Year for the second straight season, she joined LSU’s Sylvia Fowles (2005) and Allison Hightower (2008) as the third Tiger to receive the award. Fulwiley became the third SEC player to receive the honor in back-to-back seasons and earned an honorable mention from the AP as an All-American.
Fulwiley surpassed 1,000 career points and secured a career high of 28 points against Duke in the Sweet 16 round. She also etched her name into the LSU top 10 for steals in a game three separate times with 8 (2x) and 7 (once).
The Tigers will host two exhibition games which will be open to the public at the end of this month. LSU will face UNT Dallas on Oct. 22 and Loyola (N.O.) on Oct. 29. LSU’s season opener will be Nov. 2 at home against Southeastern Louisiana. All three contests will begin at 7 p.m. CT and can be streamed on the SEC Network +.
2026-27 SEC Preseason Media Poll
Order of Finish
- South Carolina
- Texas
- LSU
- Vanderbilt
- Kentucky
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- Tennessee
- Mississippi State
- Alabama
- Texas A&M
- Florida
- Georgia
- Missouri
- Auburn
- Arkansas
Preseason Players of the Year
Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt
Preseason All-SEC First-Team
Madison Booker, Texas
Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt
Joyce Edwards, South Carolina
Clara Strack, Kentucky
Mikaylah Williams, LSU
Preseason All-SEC Second Team
Aaliyah Chavez, Oklahoma
Tessa Johnson, South Carolina
MiLaysia Fulwiley, LSU
Chloe Kitts, South Carolina
Talaysia Cooper, Ole Miss