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Nicholls State University women’s basketball coach DoBee Plaisance has always heavily prioritized recruiting – a mindset that’s helped the coach remodel the Colonels program from a cellar dweller to an annual contender in the Southland Conference.
That dedication toward finding local gems seems to have paid off once again for Nicholls, which welcomed a few new members into its family this past week – young ladies who enter the program with decorated resumes in their high school careers.
Plaisance announced that Nicholls received two signees in the late National Signing Day Period this past week, receiving National Letters of Intent from Edna Karr standout Paige Williams and Montgomery, Alabama native Tykeria Williams.
The duo brings the Colonels’ 2016 Signing Class to five players. The two new signees join Keeona Brown, of Walker High; Korie Leary, of Dallas and Sabree Wilson, of St. Michael the Archangel, in a class that Plaisance said will equip Nicholls with the tools it needs to chase the Southland Conference Championship.
“I’m tremendously fired up about Paige and Ty Williams becoming a part of the Colonel family,” Plaisance said. “They bring so many levels of passion, excitement and commitment (to our team). I expect
them to do great things for our program.”
Paige Williams is a well-known name among those who scour women’s basketball in the state of Louisiana.
A multi-year standout at Edna Karr in New Orleans, the future Colonel averaged 15.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game for the Lady Cougars, helping lead the team to the LHSAA’s Top 28 Tournament for a second-straight season.
Because of her dominance, Paige Williams was named an All-Metro, All-District and First-Team All-State selection – a feat only accomplished by a handful of players in Louisiana this year.
Plaisance said she’s excited about the Karr standout because of her versatility and ability to impact a game in many different ways.
Standing 6-feet tall, Paige Williams was a combo guard at Karr, who possessed the ability to beat defenders both on the perimeter and in the paint – much in the same way that former Colonel Alisha Allen was able to do during the beginning of Plaisance’s tenure with the team.
“She’s very difficult for opponents to guard,” Edna Karr coach Jessica Barber said at the Top 28. “She is a smart player, and she’s very athletic. She’s been a great player in this program, and she’s going to be a young lady that will take a lot of effort for us to replace.”
Tykeria Williams is awfully decorated, too.
A native of Montgomery, Alabama, Tykeria Williams attended Lee High School and enjoyed arguably the best playing career that the school’s ever seen.
She scored 2,088 career points at Lee – a mark that is both the school’s career record and also the top girls’ basketball mark for any Montgomery-based public school.
In her final campaign with the team, Tykeria Williams averaged 19.8 points, 6 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 4.1 steals per game.
Those numbers earned her First-Team All-State Honors in Alabama’s Class 7A, while also making her a finalist for the state’s Player of the Year Award.
Plaisance said that Tykeria Williams’s biggest asset isn’t even her fat stats, but is that she’s a winner. With Lee, she led the Generals to multiple 20-win seasons, including the 24-7 mark that the team enjoyed in 2015-16.
The Nicholls coach said that both new signees will be in a position to contribute to the Colonels in the 2016-17 season.
That’s saying a lot, considering that the team only lost two seniors to graduation and is considered to be among the favorites in the Southland Conference next fall.
As Plaisance always does, she said the signing day makes her proud to be the coach of Nicholls State University.
“They compliment our other signees and our returning players. These kids fill in gaps,” Plaisance said. “Paige and Ty are outstanding young women with great personalities, character and energy…. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to coach them. It’s a very exciting day to be a Colonel.”
‘It’s a very exciting day to be a Colonel.’
DoBee Plaisance
Nicholls women’s basketball coach
