Bruce makes it official, signs with UNO

On Wednesday, senior guard Traya Bruce made it official, signing a National Letter of Intent to continue her playing career at the University of New Orleans.

Just 24 hours later, Bruce showed why the Lady Privateers wanted her in the first place, dominating a Class 5A school and earning her team’s second win of the season.

Bruce inked with UNO last week in front of friends, family, teammates and coaches – a ceremony that has been a long time coming for a dominant senior guard that’s been a standout player her whole life.

In her first game after securing her place at the next level, Bruce dominated H.L. Bourgeois in an 81-24 Lady Tarpons’ win, scoring 26 points, while also generating seven assists and four rebounds. Bruce’s numbers could have been loftier than they were, but she played just sparingly for a lot of the second half with the big lead.

Coach Rainie Terrebonne said at TGMC Media Day that big nights and lofty stats are just another day at the office for Bruce, who is arguably the best player in the history of the South Lafourche girls’ basketball program, which has been to the LHSAA Top 28 twice in its history.

“You know, the time has really flown by,” Terrebonne said when asked about Bruce’s career. “She came here and she’s worked really hard to get on the floor early in her career. And now, she’s really grown as a player and a person and people know about the successes she’s had and I think what I’d like to say most about it is that all of those successes are so well deserved because she works hard and sets such a great example for her teammates and our team.”

Her play has been stellar.

Bruce is now a four-year starter on a team that’s enjoyed as much success as anyone around Louisiana in the past several years.

Last year as a junior, Bruce exploded, averaging 22.0 points per game, while also leading the team in assists and steals.

The Lady Tarpons earned a high seed in the postseason and had all three of their playoff games at home in The Tank.

Bruce played the best basketball of her life in those games, scoring 105 points combined in three games, helping the Lady Tarpons get to the quarterfinals – within an inch of the team’s goal of the Top 28.

Because of that success, Bruce has collected scholarship offers from several programs around the Southeast, including Louisiana Tech, Nicholls and UNO, among others.

She said at the time of her commitment to UNO that the Lady Privateers and Nicholls were her two finalists and she had a tough decision to make when deciding between the schools.

She chose UNO, she said, because of the family-like feel the coaches provided to her, as well as the good vibe she got when visiting the campus.

“UNO is a great school,” Bruce said at the time of her commitment. “When I went for my official visit, I just felt like UNO could be my home. It was very peaceful and organized. In that atmosphere, I feel like I will be able to focus on both my education and my basketball career.”

But now, it’s time for business – time to chase a ring.

Bruce and the Lady Tarpons opened the season with a tough, physical game at Thibodaux, scoring a two-point win in overtime against the Class 5A foe.

They followed that up with the win against the Lady Braves, which improved the team to 2-0 on the season.

Now, the schedule stiffens.

South Lafourche will play in six tournaments this season, including events at St. Thomas More (this week), St. Michael the Archangel (next week), Barbe, Walker, Thibodaux and Riverside.

Those events will put South Lafourche against some of the top teams in the state, which should make the team battle tested before the beginning of district play on Jan. 19.

Terrebonne said she wanted to challenge her team early in the season so that she and her coaches could evaluate the team’s weaknesses and work on them before the back-end of the season and before the start of postseason play.

But with Bruce, Nelson and the rest of the team’s supporting cast, everyone locally believes that South Lafourche has as good a chance as anyone to play in those big, high-stakes games before the season ends.

“We had an amazing season last year,” Terrebonne said. “We made it farther than almost all of the teams in the history of our program have ever made it. But our girls have worked hard and they’ve really committed themselves and they would like to try and make it even deeper into the playoffs this year.”

“For me, the same goal has been in my vision since I was a freshman,” Bruce added. “I want to lead my team to win the state championship. Some injuries held us back last year and some people doubted we could go as far as we did. But our team is like a family and we stick together no matter what. This year, we will be stronger than ever.”

Traya Bruce

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