High School

Chasing Chavez: LSU's Kim Mulkey, No. 1 recruit Aaliyah Chavez share special bond

Hall of Fame coach, one of high school basketball's all-time leading scorers, have historic ties

Levi Payton

LSU women's basketball coach, Kim Mulkey, during their game against Grambling Sunday afternoon, December 8, 2024, at the Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City, La. Mulkey - one of the top high school scorers of all-time - is recruiting a player who recently passed her on that list.
LSU women's basketball coach, Kim Mulkey, during their game against Grambling Sunday afternoon, December 8, 2024, at the Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City, La. Mulkey - one of the top high school scorers of all-time - is recruiting a player who recently passed her on that list. / Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Chasing the nation's top recruit is old hat for LSU women's Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey. She's been doing it since she began coaching back in 1985.

But it's rare that the four-time national champion finds one of those coveted recruits while they're already chasing her.

We don’t need to dive far into Kim Mulkey’s historic and well-storied career – which is now old enough that it could parent some of the players she coaches. But let's just say people know her, and while Aaliyah Chavez’s basketball story is still in its opening chapter, the 5-foot-11 phenom had her sights set on Mulkey long ago.

At this point, Kim Mulkey and Aaliyah Chavez are both basketball legends.

Before she made her name as the flashy championship coach, the diminutive Mulkey (5-foot-4) was a star high school player at Louisiana's Hammond High from 1977-1980. There, she scored 4,075 points - currently 11th all-time, per the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) record database.

From there, she went on to an All-American career at Louisiana Tech and won gold with the USA Women's National Team.

Prior to the 2024-2025 season, Mulkey was still 10th on the NFHS all-time scoring list. That changed once Aaliyah Chavez picked up a basketball.

More Aaliyah Chavez content:

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Nation’s No. 1 girls high school basketball recruit Aaliyah Chavez scores 124 points in Caprock Texas Classic

Decision by No. 1 recruit Aaliyah Chavez has finalists searching for answers

Chavez, the nation's No. 1 girls recruit for the Class of 2025, is the hottest uncommitted recruit on the open market. A 5-star prospect by ESPN and 247Sports, she surpassed 4,000 career points by scoring 48 against Lubbock on Dec. 10, and surpassed Mulkey's mark on Dec. 13, with 16 points in a 61-60 loss at Amarillo Tascosa.

Squaring off against Palo Duro on Jan. 3, in a district game at Lubbock’s Monterey High School, Chavez turned in another of her signature performances in an 89-37 win.

On the back of five 3-pointers, Chavez shook off a slow start to finish with 36 points, 13 rebounds, six steals, one block and five assists before exiting the game with 2:52 left and her Plainsmen leading, 81-35.

She had 18 points in the first half – capped by a step-back 3-pointer while falling down with 30 seconds left in the first half to give Monterey a 39-17 lead at the half.

And while those numbers go right along with her season averages of 35.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.9 steals, it was the history she made that will be most memorable.

Once her statistics are officially registered with NFHS, her current total of 4,339 points would have her in eighth place all-time in scoring for high school girls’ basketball in the NFHS records database.

Aaliyah Chavez
Monterey's Aaliyah Chavez shoots against South Grand Prairie in a non-district basketball game Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at the Mabee Athletic Complex in Abilene. / Stephen Garcia/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While other record examples exist, NFHS is considered the governing body of state high school athletics associations across the country, and records submitted to NFHS are vetted by officials before being recorded. They are considered the gold standard of high school athletics records.

The performance will have moved Chavez up two places on the all-time list – from 10th prior to Jan. 3 – jumping Louisiana’s Katie Antony, who had 4,319 points from 2000-2003 for Anacoco, and Patricia Walker-Manuel who scored 4,327 from 1989-1992 for Athens, per NFHS.

Chavez will remain No. 2 all-time in Texas, trailing all-time scoring leader Adrian McGowen, who had 5,424 for Goodrich from 2003-2006.

Chavez began the game with 4,303 career points after scoring 37 in a 70-49 win against Lubbock Cooper in her previous outing on Dec. 31.

Fast approaching her fourth 1,000-point season, the consensus 5-star recruit now has 994 points through 28 games.

So of course she has Mulkey's attention, and now Mulkey wants hers.

The Tigers, currently ranked No. 6 in the nation, are among the final six colleges - along with Texas, Texas Tech, South Carolina, UCLA and Oklahoma - Chavez has announced she will choose from.

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Levi Payton
LEVI PAYTON

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