J&C Small School girls basketball Player of the Year: Carroll's Alli Harness

FLORA − Alli Harness was in second grade when she found her passion.

Coached by former Purdue players KK Houser, April Wilson and Abby Abel on her AAU basketball team, Harness wanted to be just like them.

She would work relentlessly to someday call herself a Division I basketball player just like her newfound role models.

When Harness received her first Division I basketball offer, as a high school freshman, it only pushed her more.

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Nothing would stop her.

Not opposing defenses. Not even two broken wrists.

As a junior, and fully recovered from breaking both wrists last year as a sophomore, Harness averaged 23.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.3 steals for the Carroll Cougars and is the Journal & Courier Small School girls basketball Player of the Year.

"When I talk to people, I always try to talk about the things that are not obvious and that are not statistics," Carroll coach Brady Wiles said. "It truly is her work ethic that separates her from every other athlete."

Before school, Harness is in the weight room. After practice, she's in the gym getting up extra shots until the coaches have to make her leave so they too can go home and see their families.

Harness now has 10 Division I offers and one of the greatest stories that years from now when reminisced upon will seem far fetched.

On Jan. 14, 2022, Harness was driving to the basket in a game against Clinton Prairie. A defender tried to draw a charge. Harness crashed to the floor and used her hands to break her fall.

She suffered a hairline fracture in her left wrist and a full break in her right one.

Three weeks later, with a cast on each arm, she'd lift her team to a sectional championship win over Pioneer.

Harness wanted to keep playing and told her coaches she was going to compete in the sectional.

After seeing her fail to even hit the rim from the free throw line, they laughed at her.

Then, as luck would have it, Mother Nature intervened.

"The snowstorm helped me a lot because it pushed the games back," Harness said. "It helped me not move so fast with the recovery process."

Harness still couldn't shoot when the sectional began, but she could dribble with her left hand.

She was 0-for-5 from the field and scored two points, but her team won. Two nights later, Harness was a less than impressive 3 of 9 shooting, but again Carroll was victorious. Then she put on an all-time performance, scoring 26 points with two broken wrists in the title game.

This season, there were no injuries or heroic stories. Just one prolific scoring output after another.

The Cougars again advanced to the sectional championship game, but this year saw a different result. Central Catholic hoisted the trophy that night.

"We didn't go as far as we wanted to, but we have a lot of things we can work on to hopefully go further in the tournament," Harness said.

In that game, like most, Harness saw double and triple teams designed to keep her from having the ball in her hands.

Fortunately for the Cougars, Harness is driven by winning more than individual success.

"I trust my teammates enough that they can make good decisions and our coaches trust that we can make those decisions," Harness said.

As a junior, Harness already owns the school's career scoring record.

After her senior year, she will achieve her longtime dream of becoming a Division I basketball player.

And while she's aware she's the best player on her team, she won't say it.

It's a rare breed from a talent that doesn't often walk the halls of schools the size of Carroll, a rural school in the middle of a farming community.

"You have a talent like that at a place that doesn't necessarily have talent like that all the time and Alli is the most humble and hard working kid that I've ever seen," Wiles said. "She credits her team. ... It's special. She knows what her teammates do for her.

"But at the same time, she's the best player on the court almost every single game."

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: J&C Small School Player of the Year: Carroll's Alli Harness