The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

A pair of Bahamian women basketball players have made an immediate impact on their programmes in an elite Division I power conference.

Both Lashann Higgs and Leashja Grant have been pivotal newcomers to the Texas Longhorns and Texas Tech Red Raiders respectively in the Big 12.

Grant’s clutch performance over the weekend propelled the Texas Tech Lady Raiders to their first conference win of the season (69-66) over the Iowa State Cyclones.

The junior transfer centre finished with 13 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots in 26 minutes of play.

Tech improved to 10-7 on the season, 1-5 in the Big 12.

“Huge win for us, to get that monkey off our back and get in the win column. I’m not just proud that we won, but also that we played well,” Tech coach Candi Whitaker said. “It was huge. If you can get that first win, you can get that momentum. If you show up and play hard like we did tonight, you’re going to be able to compete and give yourself an opportunity to win.”

Grant has scored 10.5 points and pulled down a team high 7.5 points per game. She also leads the team in field goal percentage at 56 per cent and blocks at 1.2 per game.

Higgs, the Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year, has carved out a niche as a Sixth Woman for the Longhorns, averaging 7.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and a team leading 1.6 steals per game.

The No.4 Longhorns lost their first game of the season 80-67 at the hands of the No.6 Baylor Bears Sunday night to fall to 16-1.

Higgs came off the bench to finish with nine points, four rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes.

With the loss, the Longhorns end their best season-opening undefeated streak since the 1985-86 NCAA Championship team. Texas has gone 3-1 when playing ranked opponents this season and leads the all-time series against Baylor, 57-33.

The Longhorns are scheduled to return to action 8pm Wednesday when they travel to face TCU.

Higgs’ best game of the season came just before conference play began when she scored a game-high 17 points to go along with eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists in a win over Sam Houston State. She also tied her career high with four steals in a career-high 26 minutes.

In the head-to-head matchup between the two this season it was Higgs and the Longhorns who scored an 86-62 win over Grant and the Lady Raiders earlier this month.

Higgs finished with two points and a steal in just four minutes. Grant fouled out with nine points, five rebounds and a blocked shot.