Nicholls State women’s basketball head coach DoBee Plaisance endured the “hardest loss as a head coach” against Lamar on Feb. 19.
On that day, the Colonels lost an opportunity to gain second place in the Southland Conference when Lamar won 59-57 on a buzzer beater.
The following day, Plaisance experienced “divine intervention” on her drive back to work. After saying her rosary on her ride from New Orleans to Thibodaux, Plaisance was admittedly deflated. She did not want to attend practice because she had no idea what message she would present to her team.
“What am I going to tell them?” she thought.
But then it happened. As she took LA-1, she passed a church with a billboard that caught her attention. The billboard read, “Bad things happen, but God is good.”
“That just rejuvenated me. I knew exactly what I was going to share with these kids, and I knew exactly what we were going to do at practice,” Plaisance said. “Call it what you want, but I’m telling you I was pouting on the drive in, and in one moment, I experienced divine intervention.”
Plaisance believes that God uses the bad to show that good can come out of every situation, and the good coming out of the buzzer beater loss is the heightened sense of urgency coming down the stretch. Since the loss, the Colonels went 1-1 and are now in fifth place in the Southland Conference with a 17-10 overall record.
“(The team) didn’t come back from that loss beat up and cry ‘poor me,'” Plaisance said. “Instead, they came back looking at me like ‘Alright, Coach, just tell us what to do.'”
One of those players who looked at Plaisance was her first early verbal commitment in her coaching career, senior forward Alisha Allen.
The loss affected her greatly because she had the ball in her hands in the closing minutes. Allen looked down at the gym floor following practice and put the loss on her shoulders.
Allen said she had the ball in her hands and was called for a travel, and then when the Colonels needed a stop, they got one but failed to block out, which allowed Lamar to score the game-winning bucket.
“It was pretty much a heartbreaker for us. We were lost for words. We try to find a positive in it though, and that was learning to listen and pay attention to every detail.”
The Colonels will get their shot at redemption tonight in Stopher Gym. Tipoff is set for 5:30, and Allen said she is more than motivated to get another shot at Lamar.
“Everybody has lucky nights, and that’s just the way it rolled. It’s always good to have that motivation against certain teams. It’s easier to play harder,” Allen said.