Opponents can keep overlooking Vicki Harris as long as they want. That’s just fine with the Parkview senior. She uses the oversight as motivation to move toward her goal to help the Panthers win a state championship.
“Sometimes people don’t think I’m as good as I am,” Harris said. “That makes me work harder.”
She doesn’t say that in a boastful way. A 6-foot-3 center, Harris prides herself in helping her team build toward success. Her willingness to put the team first may be one of the reasons that her statistics are good, not gaudy. She says she prefers to stuff an opponent on defense rather than light up the scoreboard.
On Friday night she did a little of both. Despite being sick for about three days, Harris had 16 points and 13 rebounds as the No. 2 Panthers (10-3) roughed up Dacula 47-30.
“She was not feeling well tonight, but if you noticed, she took her breaks on the offensive side,” Parkview coach Kirk Call said. “That was less of what we’re used to seeing on offense.”
This season Harris is averaging 15.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.3 steals, 2.1 assists and 1.7 blocks. She has signed with Rutgers and is ranked by ESPN.com as the No. 17 post player in the country.
Harris was a dancer when she was young and branched out into athletics as she got older and grew taller. Her father bribed her into playing basketball and incentized her when she was playing in the recreational leagues by offering money as a reward for points.
She’s managed to play through the death of some important people in her life, especially her grandfather. And beset with poor eyesight, she went back-and-forth between goggles and lenses, finally settling on contacts.
She continued to get taller and began to focus on her defensive skills. Her abilities to rebound and play interior defense are outstanding. She has long legs and long arms, helpful in establishing a defensive presence and warding off would-be attackers to the basket.
Harris has grown her offensive skills, too. She’s become a skilled ballhandler and is capable of stepping out to shoot from the outside, although she leaves that to her teammates.
But earlier this week in a 52-48 win over No. 3 Archer, Harris showed her athleticism by twice coming away with steals and driving the length of the floor, scoring the basket and drawing a foul. She finished with 15 points, including the jumper that put the Panthers ahead to stay, and eight rebounds against their Region 8-AAAAAA rival.
"She’s very adept at understanding where the ball needs to go to,” Call said. “There are no worries when the ball is in her hand.”
Harris took care of her college decision earlier this year. She had her pick of schools, narrowing the final list to Alabama, Wake Forest and Rutgers. In the end she chose to sign with the Scarlet Knights and play for coach Vivian Stringer, whose team finished second in the NCAA in 2007.
“If she continues to work like I know she will, she might wind up being a steal for Rutgers,” Call said.
But right now her focus is on winning the state championship. A starter since her freshman year, the Panthers have won no fewer than 28 games in each of the last three seasons.
“She has a chance to finish her career with 120 wins,” Call said.
Parkview has played an aggressive schedule this season. They finished fourth in the Nike Tournament in Phoenix, losing to Mater Dei of Santa Ana, Calif., and St. Mary’s of Stockton, Calif., the No. 1 and No. 4 teams in the country.
“Basketball has taken me a lot of places,” Harris said.
And that agenda isn’t finished just yet.
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