SPORTS SECTION E
Friday, March 13, 2026
Rhema Collins: ‘I had a lot I wanted to prove’ CUSA Player of the Year turns in another credible RHEMA Collins, the newly minted 2025-2026 Conference USA Player performance to help FIU of the Year, turned in another credible perfor- Panthers win mance to help the Florida
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By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
International University Panthers win their quarterfinal game in the 2026 Air National Guard CUSA Women's Basketball Championships. Collins, the talented Bahamian guard who transferred from the Ole Miss University Rebels last season, made her contribution as the No.2 ranked Panthers knocked off the No.7 Jacksonville State
Gamecocks 76-66 on Wednesday in Huntsville, Alabama, to advance to their first CUSA semifinals since the 2013-2014 season. In her first game since winning the CUSA on March 9, Collins made her contribution with nine points. In a pre-tournament interview, Collins, who plays alongside fellow Bahamian point guard Denika
Lightbourne, said all of her achievements came as a result of her hard work. “I definitely couldn’t do it by myself though my teammates and coaches were also a huge part of this," she said. "My focus this season wasn’t on necessarily accolades. I just know I had a lot I wanted to prove." In her first season with the Panthers, Collins was
FLORIDA International University Panthers guard Rhema Collins. awarded the CUSA Newcomer of the Year and was placed on the All-Conference USA First Team and CUSA All-Defensive Team. She also earned three Player of the Week honours. The 21-year-old daughter of Angela and Steve Collins noted that while her accolades were nice, her focus wasn't on getting the
individual accolades, but to do whatever was necessary for the Panthers to win. "Our regular season was historic for FIU, setting a programme record for most wins in conference and finishing the two seed which is FIU’s highest since joining C-USA," Collins added. "Going into this tournament I’m just looking
forward to going into the last stretches of the season with my teammates to win the championship." The Panthers are now 0-10 overall and 12-6 in CUSA. The team will be back in action tonight when they play either the No.3 seed Middle Tennessee or No.6 Missouri State at 9pm.
Luke Grimes and Chemari Pratt emerge as overall champions of national high school golf By BRENT STUBBS Chief Sports Editor bstubbs@tribunemedia.net THE Queen’s College Comets captured just one of three divisional titles at the National High School Golf Championships, but
they celebrated the dual male and female overall championship feats. While Luke Grimes emerged as the boys’ champion with his scores of 28-29-57, Chemari Pratt clinched the girls’ crown with her score of
30-26-56 during the end of last week's championships at the Bahamas Golf Federation's Nine-Hole Driving Range at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex. It was the first time that one school clinched the two titles since the inception
of the tournament by the BGF's Junior Division and the Fourteen Clubs Golf Academy in 2012. Grimes, a 17-year-old 12th grader, said it was good to mount the top of the podium in his final year of eligibility after falling
short as the runner-up for the past two years. "I felt like the difference this year was the extra work I put in to get over the hump and win after so long," said Grimes, who has been playing golf for the past five years, four of which at the nationals. "I am proud of my performance and my focus this year. I am also very proud of the team. Everyone worked very hard and helped to make my last high school nationals special." Pratt, also a 12th grader, has been playing golf for the past 10 years and, after winning the junior girls’ title in 2021, she wanted to make sure that she left Queen's College with a bang. "I felt that my performance this year was surreal. I sunk every putt that I needed for par and the putt that I made for birdie that put me under par for that round," she stated. "Luke and I had a plan to win for our last year because that would just
be amazing to win in our last year and we did it. The support from my team and coaches really made it easier for me to perform as well as I did." Not only was she thrilled by the feats from herself and Grimes, the 16-yearold Pratt said she was even more thrilled by the efforts of her Comets' team-mates. "I am really proud of my team and the work that they put in surely paid off," Pratt stressed. Despite their performance, Queen's College had to settle for second place in both the senior boys’ and girls’ team standings behind Windsor School, who also won the junior boys’ title. Queen's College won the junior girls’ title to ruin Windsor School's bid to repeat their dominance of last year's tournament, winning all four divisions. Sandre Hobbs, the athletic director at Queen's
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Minister Moxey opens Northern Bahamas Regional High School Track and Field Championships MINISTER for Grand Bahama Ginger Moxey etched a piece of Grand Bahamian history into the books when she became the first Grand Bahama minister to officially open the first Regional High School Track and Field Championships at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex. The High School Regionals, which
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