It was not the year any of the Bahamian senior female athletes had envisioned as the deadly COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world from mid-March. As a result, competition across the board came to a halt and sports organizers and personnel tried to figure out how to resume sports. For some, they were able to experience some action but for others they were only able to train.
Harbor Island native Lashann Higgs has been voted as the Nassau Guardian’s Senior Female Athlete of the Year for 2020. The professional basketball player won by one vote over equestrian rider Anna Camille Vlasov.
Higgs was one of the fortunate athletes as she culminated her collegiate basketball career for the University of Texas Longhorns in March. She averaged 9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game in her final season to lead them to a 19-11 win/loss record. In her junior season, the shooting guard suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in her left knee.
In her tenure for the Longhorns, Higgs averaged 9.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. In addition, she helped lead the Longhorns to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament for four straight seasons. They reached the Elite Eight in 2016, and the Sweet 16 in back-to-back years of 2017 and 2018.
This year, her season ended on March 8 with the Longhorns set to play in the Big 12 Conference Championship. The COVID-19 pandemic prematurely ended it. After the season, Higgs entered the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Draft that was held back in April, but was not drafted. Being the optimist that she is, she pursued her dreams of playing professional basketball and got an opportunity to play for Embutidos Pajariel Bembibre PDM which plays in the Liga Femenina Endesa (Liga Dia) – the highest women’s basketball division in Spain.
Higgs is leading Bembibre in the scoring department after 17 games with 15.6 points a contest – the sixth highest average in the league. She is the third best rebounder on her team, averaging 4.8 per game, and her 1.1 steals per game is the second-highest average on the team. Higgs scored a career-high 32 points and had a career-high four blocks on Friday November 27 to help her team to secure a victory against Quesos El Pastor Zamarat. They won 78-68.
Higgs’ individual play in her rookie season has been beyond expectations as she stays focus on the task at hand despite the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Europe.
Vlasov may be a stranger to most but the Bahamian is well-known in Europe – particularly France. From September 11-13, she became the first Bahamian to win a major equestrian event since Equestrian Bahamas, the local governing body for the sport, became a member of FEI (International Federation for Equestrian Sports).
The 21-year-old picked up three victories at the Jumping du Golfe de St. Tropez HUBSIDE event in St. Tropez, Grimaud, France. It is one of the most prestigious equestrian riding events in France, and Vlasov was victorious at the Grand Prix CSI 1* level.
The three victories for Vlasov and teammate Beaumont W/V meant that The Bahamas’ National Anthem was played three times – the first three times in Europe for an equestrian event. The anthem was played each of the days of competition.
On August 14, in Deauville, France, Vlasov and Beaumont M/V placed third out of 42 in the 1.15m class.
With Equestrian Bahamas being a member of FEI since November 2019, Vlasov can have her dream realized which is to represent The Bahamas at the Olympics. However, to get to that stage, she has to ride for The Bahamas at the Pan American Games and Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and qualify.
Vlasov was able to compete at more competitions after her three-gold medal performances in France.
In third place behind Vlasov is Bahamian Olympic Champion in the women’s 400 meters (m), last year’s Nassau Guardian Senior Female Athlete of the Year winner Shaunae Miller-Uibo. She qualified in the 100, 200 and 400m for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games that was set for this past summer in Tokyo, Japan, and has been rescheduled to next summer.
Miller-Uibo was not able to participate on the Diamond League circuit this year because of the pandemic. However, she was able to participate in track meets in and around Florida – where she trains. One of the highlights for her was a new personal best in the 100m. She clocked a blistering 10.98 seconds at the ‘Back to the Track’ Meet at the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida, on July 24.
With her new personal best in the 100m, she is now the fourth woman to ever run sub-11 seconds for the 100m, sub-22 for the 200m and sub-49 in the 400m.
Miller-Uibo ends the year for a second straight year with the fastest time in the 200m, recording a season’s best time of 21.98 seconds. She recorded that time at the same meet where she got her personal best in the 100m. The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Champion only ran one 400m event for the makeshift season. In that race, she recorded the second-fastest time for the year, 50.52 seconds, at the Showdown in Otown Meet at Montverde Academy, in Montverde, Florida, on July 4. American Lynna Irby ran the world-leading time of 50.50 seconds.
Miller-Uibo took part in an inspirational 150m virtual race with American Allyson Felix and Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji. The trio ran from different locations with Miller-Uibo running in Florida, Felix running in California and Kambundji running in Switzerland. Miller ran a time of 17.15 seconds.
With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics planning committee forging ahead with plans for next summer, Bahamians will have a chance to see Miller-Uibo perform on the big stage again.
Finishing fourth in the voting process is swimmer Laura Morley who is looking to get the “A” cut Olympic qualifying time in the 200m breaststroke after already securing the “B” cut. An impressive run this year has sprinter Anthonique Strachan in the fifth spot for the Nassau Guardian’s Senior Female Athlete of the Year honor for 2020.
The top senior male will be revealed on Monday.
The post The Nassau Guardian’s Senior Female Athlete of the Year appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/the-nassau-guardians-senior-female-athlete-of-the-year/
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