Alexys Vazquez, sitting in the back seat of the family car, often was on her phone in search of an open fitness center basketball court, so later she could shoot some three-pointers, while older brother Kyle played baseball.

Whether away or on her home driveway court, she always seemed to be shooting.

Such dedication shone at Berlin High, where coach Sheila McCabe-King says Vazquez is the “best three-point shooter I’ve ever had.”

Vazquez holds school records for threes in a game (six), season (72) and career (212) and ranks first in season free-throw percentage (86). BHS played in four sweet 16s, three elite eights, two final fours and one state title game during her career.

A broken right foot and left leg stress fracture couldn’t sideline her entirely her senior season, as she averaged 11.6 points. “You’d have to run me over with a truck to keep me out,” she said, and such determination was encouraged by “my great, supportive parents [Carl and Lisa].”

This trait helps Vazquez live with Type 1 diabetes. After being diagnosed at 8, she has tested her blood sugar, balanced exercise and diet, worn a glucose sensor and administered insulin by a pump or injections – typically five a day.

“While playing basketball at McGee School, my pump site tubing sometimes got yanked out of me, so I adjusted for high school,” she said.

That meant injections instead of her pump.

McCabe-King said “too often, people look for excuses. ‘Lex’ never used diabetes as a crutch for anything. She never complained – amazing.”

Vazquez adjusted at Fairfield too. Since wearing jewelry in games was prohibited, her medic alert bracelet got sidelined. So, she got a tattoo of “Diabetes1” beneath a medic alert emblem on the inside of her right forearm.

She was undeterred as a career starter and holds Fairfield season records for threes (94) and three-point percentage (42.7) and for career three-point percentage (40.2) and ranks second in career threes (237).

Today she’s a fifth-grade teacher in Boca Raton, Florida, where she lives with her husband Jordan Tabakman (Florida Atlantic University’s pitching coach) and daughter Ariya, born April 3, 2023.

“I hope her birth can inspire other Type 1 mothers,” Vazquez said. “For all of us: don’t let diabetes or anything else stop you from living the life you want.”