TASHA HARRIS: Basketballer with a mission

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Tasha Harris practically jumped at the opportunity to start playing basketball.

She was attending Muschett High School three years ago when the basketball coach saw her playing netball and invited her to try out for the basketball team. Since then she has not looked back and now says basketball is her favourite sport.

“I played netball and was captain of the volleyball team but basketball is a better game; it has more physical contact and gives me more chances to express myself better,” she told the Jamaica Observer West.

The 19 year-old Harris, who just completed 12th grade at Spot Valley High after transferring from Muschett, helped her team to the finals of the ISSA/Western Conference High School Girls Open where they lost to Mount Alvernia High.

The loss, Harris said, was “disappointing” as they had beaten the Montego Bay-based school twice during the regular season.

“We had too many new players on our team and it was just myself and Lanasha (Smith) who were expected to lead the team,” she explained.

The highlight of the season for her, she said ,was leading the scoring for Spot Valley when they met her former school Muschett High, pouring in 21 points against her former team-mates.

The Scarlett Hall, Trelawny resident, who also plays for Unique Ballers, the only female basketball team outside of Kingston that plays in the national female league, says she is a fan of the Chicago Bulls in the National Basketball Association and its star point guard Derrick Rose.

Harris gives credit to her club coach Everton Travers, who she said has helped to improve her game.

With just one year of high school left, Harris already knows what she wants to do. “I am hoping to attend GC Foster Sports College as I hope to become a physical education teacher, as I like to work with children and also to keep active at the same time.”