Cassidy Barrios never lived more than a few miles from the banks of Bayou Lafourche.
A Raceland native, Barrios moved down the road to Nicholls State for college where she eventually became one of the greatest Colonels to ever step on the basketball court over her four-year career.
By the time she graduated this spring, Barrios was the women’s program’s all-time points leader and all-time rebounds leader. As a junior, she became the first Colonels player to be named Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Year and also went on to earn Southland Tournament MVP as she led Nicholls to its first conference tourney championship and appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Now, she’s headed for the other side of the world.
Earlier this week Barrios signed a professional contract to continue her playing career with BK Beroe in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, as part of the Women’s Adriatic Basketball Association, which combines women’s teams from Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.
Beroe is the defending WABA champions after an 11-3 season and was established in the 1980s.
The contract is for one year at which point Barrios said she hopes to move up to more prominent leagues with the final goal being the WNBA in the United States.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Barrios said. “Not a lot of people get to experience this. I get to play the sport that I love and travel the world and experience different things as my job now. That’s something that I always wanted to do — make basketball my job.”
While Barrios is excited for the opportunity to continue her career, she did admit to a few nerves about such a big move. Bulgaria is nearly 6,000 miles away from Thibodaux.
The team is mixed with players from all over the world — which means there will likely be more than a few language barriers to overcome.
Barrios said she will be rooming with another American on the team and was promised at least one of the coaches speaks English, but knows little else about the Bulgarian language. Most details for the deal were arranged by her agent.
She reports to Beroe on Sept. 1.
“I’m definitely nervous. It’s going to be a new experience for me,” Barrios said. “But I’m sure I’ll get used to it. I’m sure I’ll be occupied with basketball to keep me busy out there.
“I’m just excited to play basketball again. I didn’t really care where I ended up, as long as I was on a basketball court.”
One comfort during the transition has been Nicholls coach DoBee Plaisance’s daughter Theresa Plaisance.
Plaisance and Barrios know each other from their high school and AAU days with both coming out of Vandebilt Catholic in Houma.
Plaisance, a former LSU standout, currently plays in the WNBA for the Dallas Wings but also played international in Turkey and China throughout her career.
Barrios said she’s been a major comfort and wealth of advice during the process.
“She’s been my go-to person throughout this whole process to get information and advice through everything,” Barrios said. “She’s been over there a couple times and I worked out with her for about a month before she went back to the WNBA. She was telling me what I need to expect and what I should bring and what it’s like out there. She’s definitely been a role model to me and is someone I admire.”
