Claire Berry has become a focal point of the Lady Colonels basketball team in only her second year of play.This season she set a career high in points against Lamar, scoring 17 points in 38 minutes.

“Claire always works hard,” head coach Mark Cook said. “She works hard in practice everyday and has done a good job for us so far.”

Nicholls has always been a part of Berry’s life; her father was a football player here.

A year after Berry was born, she and her family moved to Sulphur where she lived until she returned to start college at Nicholls.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Nicholls,” Berry said. “Since my dad came here it has always been my first choice.”

Although Berry was a standout player at Sulphur High School where her team made the playoffs for three straight years, she was not given a scholarship and became a walk-on for the Lady Colonels.

At that time coach Louise Bonin had no more scholarships, but gave Berry a shot to be on the team.

“At the time it was late when she showed interest in me, and said if I worked hard she would reward me with a scholarship,” Berry said.

When Bonin resigned and Cook was named the new head coach, he did an overhaul of the players who were on the team and brought in players who believed in his philosophy. Berry was one of the players whom he kept on the team.

“I knew she had the potential to help our team,” Cook said. “I looked at how she developed her game, and her leadership skills grew from last season to this season.”

Berry knew that Cook wanted to win and took every practice as a way to not only to make herself better, but her teammates as well.

“I didn’t see many minutes last year, but everyday was a competition for me,” she said. “I think that’s what he looked for everyday, for people to compete, and I think that’s a big reason why he kept me.”

For her first two seasons she got little to no playing time in any of the games, but towards the middle and end of last season she almost doubled the number of games she played in, along with a 2.4 ppg average.

Now Berry is the third leading scorer on the team, averaging 5.4 ppg and third in assists with 31.

“You can get better at practice, but there’s nothing’s like game experience,” Berry said.

Berry is an education major, but her future still lies on the hardwood.

“I want to coach,” Berry said. “If there was a way I could play basketball for the rest of my life I would, but I don’t think I could ever leave the game, and I think coaching is my way of doing that.