Colonels add depth in signing class

It looks like Nicholls State University women’s basketball coach DoBee Plaisance and lead assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Justin Payne have done it again.

Together, the duo have worked to bring another top-flight class of players into the Colonels program.

Plaisance announced Nicholls’ 2017 recruiting class this past week – a group of players who will join the team for the 2017-18 season.

The incoming class features three players from Texas (Duncanville High School guard Lauryn Bowie, Brennan High School guard Kinzie Heineman and Ranchview High School post Bryanna Washington) and one from Louisiana (Edna Karr guard Destiny Collins).

Plaisance said they’re a group that has the talent to win championships at Nicholls. She added that each player is gifted enough to have a chance at freshman playing time next season.

“This signing class really solidifies the special time we’re going through here at Nicholls with the women’s basketball program,” Plaisance said. “I felt like last year’s class was a special one and so far, it has proven to be so. But this group of signees mirrors the quality of the previous class and they address the needs we have at certain positions.”

Athletic guard play was a huge focus of the Colonels recruiting class.

Few seniors in Louisiana this year are as athletic as Collins, who is one of the top players on Edna Karr’s talented roster.

Collins is an attacking, slashing guard – the second Lady Cougar to join Plaisance in as many recruiting classes.

She’s a three-time All-District

pick who will almost assuredly win the honor again once the season ends. As a junior in 201516, Collins, who stands 5-foot, 10-inches, averaged 14 points, six rebounds and five assists per game for a team that challenged some of the top teams in the state in Class 4A.

“Destiny adds to our local flavor coming out of Karr,” Plaisance said. “She’s a big combo guard who’s going to pose problems for the opposition in terms of matchups.”

Over in Texas, Plaisance got a pair of players who will remind fans of a couple great Colonels from the past.

Bowie is a 5-foot, 11-inch guard/forward who can score both from the outside and also in the paint. At Duncanville, Bowie helped her team win the Class 6A State Championship last season, generating several accolades along the way.

Plaisance said she loved Bowie’s ability to defend, citing that she’s been Duncanville’s top defender for the past several seasons.

The coach said Bowie will remind Nicholls fans of fellow Texan Alisha Allen, who was a four-year starter for Nicholls at the beginning of Plaisance’s tenure – one of the players who helped lay the groundwork for the team’s current successes.

“She is our next version of Alisha Allen,” Plaisance said. “She is a very versatile power forward. She’s scrappy on the boards.”

Plaisance also found another version of former standout Jenny Nash while recruiting in Texas.

That would be Heineman, a 5-foot, 8-inch guard who Plaisance touted for always having the ability to be in the right place at the right time throughout the game.

At Brennan High, Heineman has been a two-time team captain and a three-time All-District pick. She’s also dominant athletically and is a member of the All-Academic team and is part of National Honor’s Society.

“She reminds me a lot of Jenny,” Plaisance said when asked about the incoming guard. “She has an extremely high IQ, and she has great intellect for the game.

In the post, the Colonels signed Washington – a player who easily averages a double-double per game at Ranchview High School.

At the prep level, Washington has been named to Texas’s All-State Team, while also earning All-Region and District MVP.

As a junior, Washington averaged 17.8 points and 13.6 rebounds per game. while recording 25 double-doubles in 29 games.

Plaisance said Washington will eat up space for the Colonels and will be able to convert easy interior shots – two things Plaisance has coveted for a long, long time.

“She addresses a big need for us with a powerful post player,” Plaisance said. “She’s a relentless rebounder and a great finisher underneath the basket. It’s a good fit.”

The Colonels begin Southland play on New Years’ Eve against Incarnate Word in Thibodaux.