Young Colonels hope conference success is within reach

A brand new team.

That’s how Nicholls State women’s basketball coach DoBee Plaisance described her roster heading into the start of the season.

The Colonels returned just two players from last year’s team and have seven new players on their roster this season, including four of the team’s five starters.

“It’s been somewhat of a roller coaster in terms of us acclimating ourselves to each other,” Plaisance said. “We come from literally nine different walks of life and the acclimation period has been quite a process as it always is when you have the turnover that we’ve had.”

The overhaul is all a part in the rebuilding process Plaisance is overseeing in the Colonels’ women’s basketball program. Nicholls won just two games last season and had an average margin of defeat of nearly 31 points per game. The Colonels were also beaten by 50 or more points six times last season.

But the new-look Colonels have shown more promise this year and have already surpassed last year’s win total and have won three games.

The Colonels’ have also lowered their average margin of defeat to just 22 points per game.

And Plaisance said she believes the best is still yet to come for her entirely underclassman team.

“We’re playing well,” she said. “But we’re still not playing out best. It’s exciting for me, but yet scary at the same time.”

Two bright spots for the Colonels this year has been the play of newcomers Ricshanda Bickham and Alisha Allen, who combine for 58 percent of the scoring this season.

“What (Bickham) has brought is she’s our only true point guard, she’s playing 39-40 minutes a game and she’s not complaining about it and is playing hard,” Plaisance said. “With Alisha Allen, she is going to be a hard matchup for teams. She can shoot a three and then when you key on that, she’s going to put it on the floor. Her versatility really helps us.”

Bickham landed at Nicholls as a transfer after two years at Connors State College in Warner, Oklahoma, where she helped the team to a combined 59-8 record in two seasons.

So far, the transition back to Louisiana has been a smooth one for Bickham, whom her teammates call “Shaky,” as she averages 16 points per game and nearly four steals per game in her first season with the Colonels.

Bickham said Plaisance sold Thibodaux’s close proximity to New Orleans during her recruitment.

“When I went to JUCO, my family couldn’t come to the games,” she said. “But here, they haven’t missed a game yet. That’s a big factor for me.”

Allen landed in Thibodaux following a four-year career at Naaman Forest High School in Garland Texas.

In her final prep season, Allen averaged 12.6 points per game and pulled down five rebounds a game.

Her play in high school earned her attention from many Southland, Sunbelt and Southeastern Conference schools.

“They had a lot of schools on her and I was able to get her to see the vision that I had and commit early,” Plaisance said. “And I truly believe that if I don’t sign her early, I might lose her.”

The forward has upped her play in her first season in a Colonel uniform and averages 15.7 points and six rebounds per game this season.

“I have more to do here (than in high school),” Allen said. “I play so much more and there’s so much more I needed to learn how to do in certain situations.”

Plaisance said her core group of newcomers’ play has enabled the team to recruit better players to the Colonels.

Nicholls currently is scheduled to have one of the best signing classes in the Southland Conference.

“These recruits are looking in and we’re saying, ‘Look, they came here and made a difference, now you can come in and make one, too.'”

The Colonels hope they continue to get big production from their duo this week when the team hosts Central Arkansas today and travels to play Northwestern State on Saturday – both Southland Conference matchups.

Bickham said the team’s progression is nice, but she believes wins are soon to follow for the nearly revamped Colonels continue to learn how to play with one another.

“We’re getting it together,” she said. “Everybody comes from a different place, so it’s hard, but we’re getting better and better everyday and I promise we’re going to start winning.”

Nicholls State junior guard Ricshanda Bickman a running layup against Texas-San Antonio on Jan. 13. Bickham is the team’s leading scorer in her first season at Nicholls. * Photo by MICHAEL DAVIS