Plenty of Warren Central Lady Vike fans will be on hand to welcome home Cookie Johnson when she suits up for the University of New Orleans against Mississippi State today at 4:30 p.m. at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.

For Johnson, the return to the &#8220Big House” is ironic considering it was the site of her last high school game for coach Donny Fuller’s team. Johnson, a 5-foot-11 guard for the Lady Privateers, was a forward with the Lady Vikes in 2004, leading WC to the Class 5A semifinals where they lost to eventual state champion Harrison Central.

At UNO, Johnson is coming off the best game of her sophomore season – a 14-point effort Tuesday night in a 47-36 victory over Mercer in New Orleans.

Third-year coach Amy Champion said the Lady Privateers (6-6) badly needed the victory over Mercer to end a two-game losing streak which opened the club’s Sun Belt Conference schedule.

&#8220A win is a win and we really needed one in order to break the skid we were in,” Champion told the Times-Picayune of New Orleans after the contest. UNO had won four of its first five before losing to Louisiana-Lafayette and North Texas last week in Sun Belt play.

Champion played four seasons at Delta State under current Vicksburg resident and former Warren Central coach Lloyd Clark. She spent 10 seasons as an assistant at Alabama-Birmingham before taking her first head coaching position at UNO.

Johnson was one of the first players she signed and she’s been a good one.

Johnson has started all 12 games for UNO this season. She is averaging 9 points and 4.7 rebounds. She has scored in double figures in five of her 12 starts, including 10 points in a 65-45 loss to perennial national power LSU.

Mississippi State (5-5) will be the second SEC opponent for UNO. Both teams are very young as State starts two true freshmen, two sophomores and a junior, while Johnson is one of three sophomore starters for UNO.

One of the juniors is the team’s leading scorer in Le’Della English who did not play against Mercer. She leads UNO with 17 points a game. Talisha Young adds 12 points and Johnson is third on the team with her nine points.

Mississippi State is led by center Imesia Jackson at 13.4 points per game and guard Robin Portier at 9.5 ppg.

The women’s game is part of a collegiate doubleheader. The Mississippi State men (8-2) take on UNO (5-5) at 7 p.m.

If you go.

The University of New Orleans and Mississippi State will meet in both men’s and women’s basketball today at Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. The women’s game, which will feature former Warren Central standout Cookie Johnson, begins at 4:30 p.m. and the men’s game at 7.