On Saturday, seniors Dabrasia Baty, Zandra Emanuel and Toshua Leavitt will play their final regular season game inside Strahan Arena when they take on UT Arlington at 2 p.m.
The Daily Record interviewed the trio and their head coach, Zenarae Antoine, about the upcoming match:
Daily Record (DR): What are you most excited about for senior day?
Zandra Emanuel, forward (ZE): “I’m just looking forward to playing with the girls and getting a win.”
Dabrasia Baty, guard (DB): “I’m looking forward to getting a win and spending some time with my family.”
Toshua Leavitt, guard (TL): “I’m sad that’s it’s my last time playing at Strahan and it’s my last time to play in front of the Texas State fans.”
DR: What’s been your favorite moment at Texas State?
DB: “Just the full experience.”
TL: “Last year in the tournament, winning the game against Lafayette since the year before we lost on the buzzer-beater. So, last year, whenever we beat Lafayette to go to the championship, that was one of the great feelings I’ve had and one of the best memories.”
ZE: “All my moments were my favorites, I can’t even pick one. They all favorites.”
DR: What are you going to miss about Coach Antoine?
TL: “Just that she pushes me every day. And she’s never given up on me when she’s had plenty of chances to give up on me. So, I’m just going to miss her being here for me with life and with basketball.”
ZE: “I’m just gonna miss her. She’s funny. She reps Houston with me. I’m gonna miss her coaching and her seeing something in me, you know, offering me a scholarship to come here and play and just watching me develop over time. And you know, just basically coaching me, even when I did make mistakes. And like Toshua said, she didn’t give up on me. She saw something in me and she gave me the opportunity.”
DB: “I’m gonna miss Coach Z’s sense of humor. She’s a very funny lady — serious funny lady, but she can still make us laugh. And she knows how to bring us all together to be on one accord as a team. “
DR: When did things start to click for you in your college career?
ZE: “I would say when I got injured, it started clicking for me. I knew my reason, I knew why I was supposed to be here. I knew what God had in store for me and I knew what He was trying to show me.”
TL: “Probably my sophomore year because my freshman year was just a lot of learning for me. Just learning to be more mature.”
DR: What’s next for you?
TL: “I’m not sure what’s next. I’m just going to try to play the best I can the rest of the season and just worry about that. And, you know, if I can continue to play basketball, that’s what I’ll do.
DB: “Life begins, that’s what’s next.”
ZE: “I want to become a doctor, a pediatrician.”
DR: What are your goals for the rest of the season?
ZE: “We’ve all got one in mind.”
DB: “Winning the championship.”
TL: “Winning the championship, going to the tournament, winning a ring.”
DR: Coach Antoine, are you ready for senior day?
Zenarae Antoine, head coach: “I’m always ready for senior day, especially when you’re blessed enough to have a program that knows that that’s not your last game. So, (Toshua) asked, ‘Are you going to cry?’ And I was like ‘No, probably not.’ She said ‘You’re not gonna cry? You don’t care about us?’ It’s like, it’s not that I don’t care about you, but I know it’s not the last game. I said ‘It’s that last game, for me, emotionally, that’s really tough.
“I think what I appreciate about this senior class is that they are all very different. In their styles of leadership and personalities and that they’re able to reach, as a group, everyone on our team, each one in their own way. And the role that I think they’ve found themselves in are positive and very different … So, I like that about them.”
