Zenarae Antoine had never coached a set of twins before.
She had played with twins in high school in Katy. She’d coached a girl who had a twin brother. She’s a mother to twin boys.
“But I've never coached twins on the same team,” Antoine said. “I've never coached twins in this way.”
Texas State’s twin senior guards Brooke and Bailey Holle will play in their final two games at Strahan Arena this weekend. They’ve accomplished a lot during their four years with the maroon and gold: going 3-1 against I-35 rival UTSA, leading the Bobcats to the program’s first win at Little Rock and reaching the Sun Belt tournament in all three of their first seasons.
But the next two games might be the most important of their careers.
“We're trying to just prepare like it's any normal two games,” Brooke said. “It'll hit us after the games, for sure, that it was our Senior Night and Senior Week. But right now, we're just really focusing on trying to prepare like it's any other game.”
“To me, it's just, I don't want to let my emotions get the best of me,” Bailey said. So I'm just acting like it's a normal two games. Because these are two really big games for us.”
Texas State (10-15, 3-11 Sun Belt) currently sits in 11th place in the league, just two games out of the No. 10 seed. Georgia Southern (9-17, 6-9) and Georgia State (8-18, 5-10) currently hold the No. 9 and No. 10 spots, respectively. Both teams will travel to San Marcos to duke it out with the Bobcats.
“My push and charge for our coaching staff right now is to get our team in a position where we're able to make a run in the postseason,” Antoine said. “But all that starts with gearing up here with this two-home-game stand.”
The team will start Thursday morning, facing Georgia Southern in Texas State’s annual Kids Game. Students will be bussed to Strahan Arena from multiple schools all around the city to get a glimpse of the Bobcats.
The Holle sisters said the event is something they’ve looked forward to every year.
“It's just always fun playing in front of a bunch of kids because they get so excited,” Brooke said. “I mean, sometimes they cheer no matter who scores, they like to see the ball go in. But it's always just fun to be able to play in front of them because they look up to us and they see a lot of college athletes as like their idols and want to aspire to be like us.”
“Just to have like the whole gym wild whenever we score and stuff is just, it's fun,” Bailey said.
The twins’ Senior Day takes place Saturday against Georgia State. They know there will be some emotions, especially after the game, but are helped by the fact that it won’t be the final game of their careers. Texas State has one last road trip on the schedule next weekend.
“It just kind of takes the pressure off,” Holle said. “Like, obviously, your last possible game ever, you want to have the best game you can. But knowing that we still have two more games after Saturday is just kind of like takes the pressure off of us.”
Antoine’s helped by that fact, too. She’s not ready to let go of the Holles just yet.
“Brooke and Bailey are special to me,” Antoine said. “Obviously because they're twins.”
The Bobcats’ tipoff against Georgia Southern at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. They’ll host Georgia State in the final home game of the season on Saturday at 2 p.m.
