Mary Lowry Ward

Mary Lowry Ward? Her Middle Name Is MVP!

When you sit down to write about the athletic exploits of Mary Lowry, you best have lots of time. Mary headed for stardom early and wound up in the spotlight often.

As a basketball player at Airline High School, she earned All-District honors for four years and was named the district's Most Valuable Player as a senior. She was named first-team All State as a sophomore and when she was a senior, she was chosen Louisiana's Most Valuable Player. Also in her senior season, Mary was chosen a preseason All American by Street and Smith Magazine, and she backed that by winning the MVP award in the state tournament and being chosen Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Louisiana and a Parade Magazine All American. And the next chapter of her life should be titled "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet!"

As a Baylor University freshman, she finished No.2 in scoring behind NCAA Player of the Year Sheryl Swoops of Texas Tech in the Southwest Conference. She was selected freshman of the year by Southwest Conference coaches and was a first-team All-SWC choice, an honor she repeated in her sophomore season, when she was named the conference MVP. A 54-point outburst against the University of Texas set a record for the most points in a conference game by a male or female player.

Mary finished her collegiate career at Tulane, where she spearheaded a Conference USA championship team and was chosen MVP in the league tournament. She also led the Green Wave into the NCAA tournament in 1996 and again in 1997.

Baylor in 1994 and Tulane in 1997 named her as Female Athlete of the Year.Trying to capture Mary Lowry in a sentence, a sportswriter once said: "She plays at 78 RPM while everybody else is at 33 1/3."

After her marriage, Mary Lowry Ward began her coaching career with the women’s basketball team at Bossier High School in 2003 and now tutors the girls team at Benton High School.