Before there is mention of The Nassau Guardian's Team of the Year for 2015, one has to mention that there was a change in the eligibility this year, as it was determined not to place full-fledged contingents or delegations under consideration. It was felt that it would be unfair to the squads whose members actually have tangible contact with each other, or the teams that physically work together to achieve a desired goal.
Hence, delegations such as the CARIFTA swim team, the CARIFTA track and field team, The Bahamas' Central American and Caribbean (CAC) bodybuilding and fitness team and the country's International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships squad, just to name a few, were not considered. However, kudos must be given to them in any event, for outstanding achievements in 2015. It was a banner year for all of those squads, particularly the CARIFTA swim team, which won its second straight regional title and the CAC bodybuilding and fitness team which returned the CAC title to The Bahamas.
Overall, it was another grand year for sports in The Bahamas. The Nassau Guardian congratulates all of the athletes, coaches, administrators and team officials who helped to carve out a year of success for sports in The Bahamas. We in the sporting fraternity in The Bahamas could hope for much of the same, or even more, as we embark on an Olympic year in 2016.
Kudos to all of The Nassau Guardian's individual winners this past year - junior female Joanna Evans for the second year in a row, junior male Lucius Fox, senior female Shaunae Miller and senior male Jeffery Gibson. Now, drum roll please... The Nassau Guardian's Team of the Year for 2015 is the women's national basketball squad, finishing with 29 points in the voting process.
After a hurtful ending to the 2014 Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships in which their appearance in the tourney semi-finals came down to a technicality, the senior women's national basketball squad returned to the regional championships in 2015, and were taking no prisoners. Guided by Head Coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin from the sidelines, the women cruised through an undefeated tournament to win the gold medal, laying claim as the best women's basketball team in the Caribbean.
The feat was particularly impressive, seeing that it was done without the team's best player. George Washington forward Jonquel Jones missed the 2015 CBC Championships due to a summer commitments for her school. Still feeling the sting from the 2014 tourney, the team decided that it was not going to be denied. Coming up big for The Bahamas was Shanea Armbrister, who led the team in scoring at 15.4 points per game. In the championship game, she scored a game-high 16 points, had seven rebounds and had four steals.
Philicia Kelly had a dozen points and six rebounds for The Bahamas in that championship game. Diasti Delancy and 16-year-old Valerie Nesbitt contributed eight points apiece in the championship game. It was overall team defense that got the job done for The Bahamas though, helping the country win its first ever CBC senior women's championship.
Team Bahamas held Jamaica to 35 percent shooting in the championship game, and 13 percent from distance, to win 55-51. The team also out-rebounded Jamaica, 53-41, in the championship game, and blocked eight shots compared to just three for Jamaica. Sha-Londa Neely and Ashley Moss were monsters on the glass for The Bahamas, pulling down 17 and 16 boards respectively in the championship game. For the tournament, Moss was third in rebounds at 12.4 per game, and Neely was fifth at 11.0 rebounds per game. Moss was also second in blocked shots at 3.2 per game, trailing just Tamara Phillip of the British Virgin Islands at 4.0 blocks per game.
The Bahamas was strong in all five games of the tournament, beating the U.S. Virgin Islands, 67-63 in the opener, outlasting St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 62-54, in the second game of the tourney, easily taking care of Antigua and Barbuda in the team's third game, 74-39, topping Barbados in the tournament semis, 57-53, and finally, overcoming Jamaica in the championship game. It was heart-breaking to say the least when the men's 4x400m relay squad was disqualified in the heats of the 1,600m relay at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, but it was still a productive year for the unit, winning silver medals at the world relays here at home, the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Senior Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The team was a favorite for a medal at the world championships, but veteran quarter-miler Michael Mathieu stepped on the line on the curve in the heats of the event in Beijing, and the team was consequently disqualified. Still, the team performed well enough during the course of the year to finish second in The Nassau Guardian's Team of the Year voting process with 28 points, just one point behind the senior women's national basketball team.
Running legs for The Bahamas this year were Mathieu, Ramon Miller, Demetrius Pinder, Chris "The Fireman" Brown, Steven Gardiner, La'Toy Williams, Alonzo Russell, Wesley Neymour, Andretti Bain and even Jeffery Gibson. It's a deep pool heading into an Olympic year in 2016.
The Scottsdale Vixens, who won an 11th straight New Providence Volleyball Association (NPVA) ladies title in 2015, was third on The Guardian's list with 23 points, and there was a three-way tie for fourth between the senior men's basketball that competed in the CBC Championships, the two-member junior rowing team of Lex Fountain and William Stanhope, and the C.C. Sweeting Cobras senior boys basketball squad, all with 15 points.
After winning the CBC title in 2014, the senior men's basketball squad finished with the silver medal in 2015, losing to the U.S. Virgin Islands in the gold medal game, 71-65; the two-member junior rowing team of Lex Fountain and William Stanhope made history for the country by becoming the first set of athletes to represent The Bahamas at the world junior championships in rowing; and the Cobras senior boys basketball squad won its fourth Hugh Campbell basketball title, and also the Providence Holiday Basketball Classic at the end of 2015, ending the year as the number one high school basketball team in the country.
The Nassau Guardian congratulates all of the winners of its end-of-year distinctions.
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