Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — Two Natchez families have a special connection to today’s NCAA Women’s Championship game in which the LSU Tigers will face the Iowa Hawkeyes for the national title at 2:30 p.m. in Dallas.

Natchez Police Chief Cal Green’s great-niece, Alexis Morris, is the Tiger’s star point guard.

Morris, a senior, scored 27 points in LSU’s come-from-behind win in the Women’s Final Four game in Dallas Friday night. She is credited with catapulting the Tigers to their first championship game in school history.

Lexi, as Green calls her, is the daughter of Green’s nephew, Raymond Morris. Raymond is the son of Green’s sister, Ida, and the late Willie Morris.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Alexis’ grandmother, Jeanette Wilson, was once the girls’ basketball coach at Natchez High, Green said.

Wilson is a Natchez resident still, she said. “Of course, she is in Texas this weekend.”

Raymond Morris married Jeanette Wilson’s daughter, Toya, and the two live in Beaumont, Texas, where Lexi grew up.

Lexi inherited basketball skills from both sides of her family. In addition to her grandmother Jeanette’s basketball skills, her father, Raymond, was a standout point guard at Natchez High School.

Green said the last time she was Alexis was two years ago at her family’s home in Beaumont for a holiday get-together.

“It’s hard for all of our family to get together because of everyone’s schedules, but we do stay in touch with each other,” Green said.

“Lexi is an amazing young woman. Like all kids, she had some problems getting her feet under her, but she is levelheaded, and she loves basketball. Since she was a tiny child, a basketball was her favorite toy. Of course, her parents encouraged her.”