If you geographically track women’s college basketball over the past couple of decades, you’ll notice a curve.

That’s the way veteran Lady Braves head coach Shirley Walker sees it. It all started over in Ruston, La., at Louisiana Tech and caught on at places like Tennessee, LSU, Georgia and now at the University of Connecticut.

There was plenty of news from the curve last week &045; all-time women’s wins leader Jim Phelan announced his retirement at Mount St. Mary’s, Sue Gunter won her 400th game at LSU and UConn’s Lady Huskies broke Louisiana Tech’s record for their 55-game winning streak.

All credible milestones that help increase awareness of women’s basketball, but no other moment did that more than Pat Summitt posting her 800th career win with the Lady Vols.

&uot;I’m very proud of Pat,&uot; said Walker, now in her 25th season at Alcorn. &uot;Pat is one of the young coaches who has really got women’s sports on the rise. She’s using the tool of women’s basketball, and she’s doing a good job for women’s athletics as well as other coaches. Pat jumped in there when women’s basketball started blooming.&uot;

Summitt jumped in back in 1974 at the ripe age of 22, and Walker took over at Alcorn a couple seasons later.

Walker can share the feeling of Summitt after she notched a coaching milestone last month. It wasn’t of the same caliber, but Walker notched her 400th career win when her Lady Braves beat Savannah State Dec. 6 at the Florida A&M tournament.

There was little fanfare about the win, but it certainly didn’t go unnoticed.

&uot;We were at a brunch and after everybody had said what they wanted to say, (assistant) coach (Perry) Fletcher got up and announced my 400th win,&uot; Walker said. &uot;I didn’t know what to say. One of the neat things was people came up and asked for my autograph.&uot;

The milestone put Walker up there with other veteran coaches who have reached that mark, but like any other coach she gives credit to the people around here &045; the players and the assistant coaches Fletcher and Cherea Wood.

Walker is roughly halfway behind Summitt’s mark and some 250 behind Gunter’s career total &045; who Walker regards as a good friend &045; now at 407 heading into tonight’s home game against UAPB.

&uot;It’s a job day in and day out,&uot; Walker said. &uot;You’ve got to have the personnel to go along with it, and I’ve been fortunate to have that. I’m looking at one game at a time.&uot;

Walker has been there, too. The Lady Braves have been to the NCAA tournament and had a string of SWAC championships back in the 1990s. Much of those teams were like this season’s version &045; not much on height but plenty of guts and hustle.

&uot;I have a lot of respect for Coach Walker,&uot; Jackson State head coach Denise Taylor said. &uot;You know her teams are going to be solid. If you win a game against what I consider a legend of the game in Shirley Walker, it’s definitely a feather in your cap.&uot;

Adam Daigle

is sports editor of The Natchez Democrat.