The Lady Colonel’s basketball team showed how tough they were and how much they could put up a fight in Saturday’s match against the Northwestern State Lady Demons. Before the game, head coach DoBee Plaisance gave her players a confidence boosting speech.
“She told us to always be focused, always have confidence in ourselves and keep believing. Anything is possible if we keep believing in ourselves and following the Lord Jesus Christ,” freshman guard Danielle Douglas said.
The Lady Colonels winless record does not seem to affect the girls’ efforts on the court.
“I do not think it affects any of the girls’ play,” senior forward Funaki Kefu said. “We just try and go hard every game and we don’t really worry about our record when we are playing. We just try to go out and get the ‘W’.”
Plaisance tends to point out the good things her team is doing rather than the silly mistakes or mess-ups. You can hear Plaisance from the bench telling her girls what a great pass that was and how well the girls are playing rather than pointing out the lay-up the opposing team just got from the bad pass by a Lady Colonel.
“She tells us what we need to do and tries to get us motivated and give us speeches on how to be motivated and positive the whole game,” Kefu said.
The team was only down by six, one of its best first halves of the season before going into the locker room. The last match-up against the Lady Demons found the Lady Colonels down by seventeen at the end of the first half.
The Colonels did not come up with its first win of the season but instead came out with a positive attitude and were happy with its accomplishments.
“I felt really good. Even though we lost I thought we played really well as a team,” Kefu said. “I thought it was one of our best games yet.”
“I think we were well prepared,” Douglas said.
The players were not the only ones who came out feeling good about the game. Plaisance was also pleased with the Lady Colonels’ performance.
“I thought that we played well in the first half and kept the game within single digits…but we just failed to get shots to fall at key moments in the game,” Plaisance said. The Lady Colonels look forward to the next game on Jan. 31 against the Southeastern Lions in Stopher Gymnasium at 2 p.m. and hope they get a win.
