Long Beach State University Athletics
Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
Kari LaPlante enters her third season as an assistant coach at Long Beach State. Last year, LaPlante guided the Beach to one of its best seasons in recent history. LBSU went 22-10 overall, marking its first 20-win campaign in 15 years. The 49ers also put together the fifth-longest win streak in program history at 15 games. That catapulted them to a 17-1 start, which brought national attention as they were receiving votes in the Associated Press Women's Basketball Poll for three-straight weeks.
Long Beach State went on to finish fourth in the Big West standings and earned an at-large berth to the WNIT. In her first season, LaPlante helped LBSU advance to the Big West Tournament quarterfinals. The Beach finished the year at 17-15, marking the program's first winning season since 2005-06.
Prior to her arrival at Long Beach State, LaPlante played professionally for two years in Romania. In 2011-12, La Plante, a 6-foot-5 center, was a member of BCT Alexandria where she averaged 14.8 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. She earned MVP honors from Eurobasket.com for her performance in the final round of league play (Week 11). LaPlante then spent the 2012-13 season with ICIM Arad, which claimed the Central European Women's League and the Romanian League championships. With ICIM Arad, LaPlante was named the MVP and "Best 5" for the Trigoviste Tournament.
Upon her return to the United States in May 2013, LaPlante ran numerous camps, clinics and personal training sessions in her hometown of Phoenix, Ariz. Before her professional career, LaPlante played four years at USC (2007-11). She was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team in 2008 and to the conference's all-defensive team in 2010. LaPlante also excelled in the classroom as she was a two-time Pac-10 All-Academic selection, three-time USC Marks Scholar-Athlete and a recipient of the Barbara Williams Academic Award. LaPlante graduated from USC in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in communications and a minor in business.
