MEN ON A MISSION
November 15, 2018
Scalise retains leadership position
November 15, 2018
I remember going to the South Lafourche Library as a kid and running straight to the sports section.
There was this one book that I’d check out every time my mom allowed. It was an encyclopedia of baseball. This book had everything — stats and standings from every, single season. It even had some of the top headlines and storylines from the previous year.
It fascinated me to learn about Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and all of the legends of the game, sure. But it also was fun to learn about some things that have changed the history of the sport, including changing the mound height, implementing the DH and also the inception of interleague play.
But enough about baseball.
I want to spend this column talking about women’s basketball and I will use the same example from my childhood to illustrate the point I’m trying to make.
Someday a long time from now, someone will research the history of Southland Conference women’s basketball.
And there is no doubt that the history of that league has been greatly changed by the talents of young ladies groomed right here in the Houma-Thibodaux area.
For the past several seasons, arguably both of the top players in the league were local — Houma native and UNO guard Randi Brown and Raceland native and Nicholls forward Cassidy Barrios.
Both Brown and Barrios’ stories have been told many times in this paper, but it’s worth
talking about again.
Brown was a State Championship guard at Central Catholic of Morgan City who was overshadowed by teammate Meo Knight, who signed with Alabama and had several premier offers. All Brown did at the high school level was excel, but for some reason, college scouts poked holes in her game and found excuses to not offer her a scholarship.
They paid a stiff price.
Brown signed with UNO and dominated. She won every individual award that there is to win in the conference, including Freshman of the Year, Player of the Year and multiple All-Conference honors and designations.
Brown is not a typical “Southland Conference” player. She could have and should have been offered by the Sun Belt, American Athletic Conference or even some of the schools in the SEC. But the mistakes of those coaches led her to UNO and while there, she re-wrote history for the Lady Privateers and the conference as a whole.
Now, Cassidy Barrios is penning her final chapter, as well.
I will be the first person to admit right now that I was wrong about Barrios.
I watched her at Vandebilt Catholic and I always thought she was a nice player and a tremendous kid. A lot of people also forget that her twin brother was quite an athlete for Vandebilt, as well.
But when she signed with Nicholls, I had absolutely no idea that she would end up being a four-year starter and a future Southland Conference Player of the Year and one of the greatest players in the history of the Colonels’ program.
Barrios’ value is that she is so versatile. She can literally play all five positions for Nicholls — both offensively and defensively.
She can score — both inside and out. But she’s also capable of getting 10+ rebounds, 7-8 assists, 2-3 steals and 1-2 blocks in any given game.
On my radio program, I’ve called her a Swiss Army Knife. Coach DoBee Plaisance said that’s the best way to explain the impact she’s had on the program.
Barrios just willed the Colonels to victories down the stretch last season. She helped the team win its first-ever Southland Conference Championship en route to being named the league’s Player of the Year.
To date, Barrios is in the Top 10 in program history in blocks, points, rebounds and steals. She has one more season to make history and she’s off to a good start, dropping 20 points in her first two games of the season against Auburn and Baylor.
Barrios will continue to etch her final story, but while she does, another local will start to flex her muscles. And I have a good feeling that she, too, will make history.
South Lafourche High School graduate and freshman Traya Bruce is doing big things for UNO already.
As a true freshman, she’s a starter and leads the team in minutes. She’s also among the team’s leading scorers and she will also likely lead the team in both assists and steals.
Bruce is a kid that one should never bet against. She was a Biddy Basketball World Champion and also a Middle School State Champion. She was a four-year starter at high school who owns the South Lafourche High School record for most career points, 3-pointers, steals and everything else.
With UNO, Bruce figures to be a four-year starter and the type of player who can transform the culture of that program.
By the time she leaves the Lady Privateers, we expect her to have about as big an impact as Brown — if not bigger.
It surely will be fun to document.
Bruce, Barrios, Brown — those three have been killer ‘B’s’ locally.
And together, they have re-written the history of Southland Conference women’s basketball.
And that’s something that all young people should read and be inspired by.
Because yes, even little ol’ local kids from little ol’ Houma or little ol’ Cut Off can make a big ol’ difference.
