Mulkey’s first LSU women’s basketball signee is the No. 2 rated high school center in 2020

New LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey is quickly earning her hefty $2.7 million first-year salary.

First, LSU already has nearly 2,500 deposits for 2021-22 women’s basketball season tickets.

Secondly, Mulkey zipped a strong ceremonial first pitch Saturday night before LSU’s 5-4 series finale win over Vanderbilt, causing Tigers’ coach Paul Mainieri to say, “We’re 1-0 with Kim Mulkey throwing out the first pitch, so maybe we should have her throw out the first pitch every game.”

But finally and most importantly, Mulkey landed her first LSU signee Saturday and it was a whopper.

Baylor freshman reserve center Hannah Gusters, a McDonald’s All-America and the No. 2 rated center in high school basketball in 2020, signed with the Tigers.

The 6-5 Gusters was part of a rotation at the post position that included two other All-Americans. In her one season with the Lady Bears, Gusters had six double-figure scoring games with a career-high of 22 points coming in a win over Northwestern State. She had a career-best 10 rebounds in a win over Kansas.

“This is a great opportunity to be part of Coach Mulkey’s first team at LSU and to do whatever I can to help bring our program back to the national spotlight,” Gusters said. “I trust Coach Mulkey and I know what she can do. She built the Baylor program from the ground up and I’m just excited to be part of what she’s going to do at LSU.”

A native of Dallas, Gusters prepped at MacArthur High School, averaged 22.1 points and 10.3 rebounds and was named 2020 Miss Basketball for the state of Texas. She earned numerous high school All-America honors included being named to the prestigious McDonald’s All-America Team, the Naismith All-America Team and the Jordan Brand Classic All-America.

She has been invited tryout of for the U.S. Basketball’s 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup Team in two weeks. Tryouts for the 12-player USA U19 team will be held May 14-16 in Denver with competition to take place in August.

“As a McDonald’s All-American, Hannah was one of the top post players coming out of high school a year ago,” Mulkey said. “Tiger fans will love the immediate impact her skill set brings to our front court. Hannah made tremendous strides as a freshman and we look for her to continue that success in Baton Rouge.”