KF’s Harris erases doubts with honor
Published 8:37 pm Friday, July 24, 2015
Camary Harris is back.
She suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury on April 27, 2014 that interfered with her freshman basketball season at King’s Fork High School. She returned to the floor for the Lady Bulldogs and made an impact, but it still remained to be seen if she would completely return to form.
King’s Fork High School rising sophomore guard Camary Harris has outrun the shadow of her 2014 ACL injury after being named to an all-tournament team during a high-level Nike event this summer. She was playing in the event as a member of the BWSL-Wilson 15U squad.(Danny Haymond photo)
The rising sophomore has helped answer that question this summer as part of the Boo Williams Summer League-Wilson 15U team.
During the 2015 Battle in the Boro in Nashville, Tenn., where she and her team played in the 2017 Showcase Division from July 10 to 13, Harris earned one of only 16 spots on the elite all-tournament team.
“That does a lot to let everyone know that I’m back, I’m back to myself again,” Harris said. “This shows my coach that also.”
All of her coaches were impressed.
“I was excited about it, I still am excited about it,” King’s Fork coach Maurice Fofana said. But he was also very happy for Harris because “she needed that confidence to show that she still can do it, she still can be the same kid she was before she was hurt.”
Even at the highest levels of the sport, with players like Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose, history has shown that the restoration of confidence is quite important for those who have experienced ACL injuries.
Evaluating Harris’ performance in the Battle in the Boro, Jonathan Wilson, coach of Harris’ BWSL team, said, “Cam did an outstanding job defensively. She played pretty well offensively, as well. She’s one of our defensive stoppers, and I thrive on her guarding the best player for the other team.”
Wilson noted that guarding the best player on opposing teams in this particular tourney meant she was defending some of the top 15U guards in the country.
“I think that’s what earned her that privilege to be on that (all-tournament) team, because she played against some really good guards,” he said.
To receive the all-tournament recognition, Harris said, “Basically, what I had to do was work hard,” grabbing loose balls, playing good defense and attacking the basket.
The tournament was one of two events in which the BWSL-Wilson squad was being evaluated for qualification to go to the Nike Nationals Juniors Division.
Only 16 out of a total of 32 teams can qualify to go to the national tournament, and BWSL-Wilson made the cut.
The team went 2-3 during the Battle in the Boro, but two out of the three losses came against a top four squad.
Harris said that in the games her team lost, “it was a dogfight.”
“We lost by five points or less,” Wilson said. “I think that right there is what got us in because Nike basketball is really competitive.”
Harris and the rest of the BWSL-Wilson squad will be leaving on Sunday for North Augusta, S.C., to compete in the Nike Nationals Juniors Division, which runs July 27-30.
