HER TIME TO SHINE!

Life after Vandebilt hasn’t always been easy for Spring Hill College post player Leah Washington.

She can thank a serious, season-ending knee injury for that – an ailment she suffered while going for a steal in the beginning of the 2013-14 season.

But finally back at 100 percent health and with two more years to play, Washington said she’s ready to soar and show the world the force that she can be on the basketball floor.

The former Lady Terrier is going to be a junior at Spring Hill College in 2015-16 for the small Division II program located in Mobile, Alabama.

In her three seasons with the team (one lost to a medical redshirt following the injury), Washington has routinely been one of the Lady Badgers’ best post players, averaging both 6.7 points and rebounds per game last season.

Washington said that she misses being a Vandebilt student, but said that the lessons she learned from the program and former coach Kathy Luke were invaluable. She added that being a part of the successful program is what’s going to allow her to find the success that she plans to have in her junior and senior seasons with Spring Hill.

“I do miss high school because I learned so much there,” Washington said. “But I’m grateful for my time there, because it prepared me for college basketball.”

HIGH SCHOOL SUCCESS LEADS TO POST-PREP CAREER

Leah Washington was a force in high school, even if she only was a starter the final two years of her career.

A 5-foot, 11-inch post player, Washington didn’t always play big minutes in the earliest days of her time at Vandebilt, but she did learn from the best.

The young, talented post was a sophomore reserve player on the Lady Terriers’ State Championship Team in the 2009-10 season – a group that was loaded in the paint and featured now-WNBA player Theresa Plaisance and also Leah’s big sister Sybil, who signed with Nicholls out of high school.

Leah Washington’s other older sister Bethany was also a basketball force, who signed with Mississippi State.

Leah said those early days at the prep level were sometimes tough, because she wanted to play so bad.

But she absorbed everything she learned like a sponge.

“It was a great thing for me to be able to develop under my sister and Theresa, because it made me play harder and it gave me a better work ethic,” Washington said.

Former Vandebilt Catholic coach Kathy Luke said she remembers the earliest days of Leah Washington’s career, touting that she knew that the Lady Terriers had something special.

She said that Washington grew in her role and was progressively getting better throughout her sophomore season.

The coach reminisces about a game in the 2009-10 season when Washington didn’t play in the first half, but rallied and was huge for Vandebilt in the final 16 minutes of play.

“At halftime, the game was tied, and during my usual halftime talk and adjustments, I looked over and saw that Leah was mad,” Luke said. “She hadn’t played in the first half and the look on her face told me that the young sophomore wanted to be a part of the moment. She wanted to win and she wanted to play…. I re-adjusted my lineup and put Leah in the third quarter and she went on to score 17 points in the second half. Undoubtedly, she was one of the reasons we were able to capture the State Championship in 2010.”

Leah Washington got her turn as a starter in the 2010-11 season, and experienced immediate success.

As a junior, Washington was Vandebilt’s leading rebounder and among the team’s leading scorers on a group that made the Class 4A State Semifinals.

One year later, Washington again helped power the Lady Terriers to the State Semifinals, averaging 11 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals per game to anchor the team as a senior leader.

That Vandebilt team had two starters out for the season with injuries and were an underdog throughout the playoffs.

“We play as a team and we work together. We all have the same goal,” Washington told The Times during her final prep postseason push. “The goal is to win – to go all the way. A lot of people doubted us, but we know through adversity that we can overcome.”

In the final prep game of her career, Washington squared off against Salmen All-American post player Kalani Brown – a young lady who stands 6-feet, 4-inches tall.

The size discrepancy didn’t matter. Washington still got her usual double-double, recording 11 points and 12 rebounds in the game, which Salmen won 51-42.

“I am extremely proud of Leah and her accomplishments as a player and a person,” Luke said. “It was a privilege to coach the three Washington sisters. Bethany, Sybil and Leah helped to develop a culture of winning for the Lady Terriers.”

INJURY SETS WASHINGTON BACK

After fielding collegiate interest from several smaller programs, including Xavier University of New Orleans and Nicholls State University, Washington signed with Spring Hill College in May 2012 – the third sister in her family to compete beyond the prep level.

The college game was tough for Washington at first, but she started to find her groove toward the back-end of her freshman season, averaging 4.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game as a true freshman.

Washington said she worked hard the summer after her freshman season, getting herself into the best shape of her life.

It showed, and she opened 2013-14 with a bang. In the first game of the season, she scored a career-high 16 points against SUNO – a game that was special to Washington because it was played in New Orleans.

In the second game of that season, also in New Orleans, Washington was playing well again. She said she felt confident in her abilities and better than she ever had on a basketball floor. Powered by her friends and family in attendance, she was showing the rest of Division II women’s basketball that she was a force to be reckoned with in the paint.

Then, it happened.

While going for a steal in that game, Washington said she took a wrong step. Next thing she knew, her knee was filled with stabbing pain.

“It happened the second game of the season,” Washington said. “I went for the ball, and my knee just gave out.”

It was a torn ACL.

She missed the rest of her season, and received a medical redshirt for the hardships she faced.

“It was so hard to go through (the injury),” Washington said. “Because I worked so hard to come back to school in the best shape of my life, and then everything didn’t go the way that I planned. But God had a greater plan for me, and knowing that motivated me.”

BACK AND READY TO SHINE

It took several months of painful and frustrating rehab, but Washington got back on the floor for Spring Hill this past season.

Washington played all 26 games for the Lady Badgers, recording 16 starts. She averaged 6.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, while helping Spring Hill enjoy a 14-12 season – one of its best seasons in several years.

The ability to rehab and recover from the injury were important to Washington, who said she cherished the 2014-15 season, her sophomore year with the team.

But Washington said the year was also frustrating in many ways, because her knee never quite felt 100 percent and back to the level that it was before the injury occurred.

“Honestly, it was a little difficult, because I was still getting my knee rehabbed and I couldn’t do what I was used to doing on the floor,” Washington said. “But everything still went well, and our team continued to gain chemistry with me being on the court again.”

Now, Washington’s No. 1 focus is on her team getting more success.

The former Lady Terrier said that she’s worked hard throughout the summer to make her knee as strong as it has been since the injury.

That, combined with another year of experience, has Washington thinking that Spring Hill will be able to do exactly what Vandebilt did: play for and win big-time championship games.

After all, Washington didn’t peak at the prep level until her junior and senior seasons, anyway.

With two more years to play, Washington knows that there’s plenty more work to be done.

“It’s going well,” she said of her collegiate career. “It’s funny, because the school is actually similar to Vandebilt in terms of its size, but I like it like that. Overall, everything is going good for me, and I can’t wait to get back on the court again.”

“Leah Washington is a young lady of character,” Luke said. “And I know that she will work hard and make a comeback and propel Spring Hill to be the best that they can be.”

‘Leah Washington is a young lady of character. And I know that she will work hard and make a comeback and propel Spring Hill to be the best that they can be.’

Kathy Luke

Former VCHS girls’ basketball coach

Vandebilt Catholic graduate Leah Washington makes a move during a game this past season. A former Lady Terrier, Washington signed with Spring Hill out of high school. Since enrolling with the college program, the post player enjoyed success, averaging 6.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game last season. With another year to rehab a knee injury that she sustained in the 2013-14 season, Washington expects continued successes.

COURTESY

Vandebilt Catholic graduate Leah Washington is making an impact on Spring Hill College. The post player is going to be a junior next fall. She expects to become a big-time threat in the paint for her team.

COURTESY