Janelle Harris has come a long way since her freshman year on the Marquette women's basketball team. She was the only freshman on a team coming off of a WNIT finals appearance.
Needless to say, she did not get much playing time, averaging just over eight minutes a game.
Going into her sophomore year her teammates and coaches were not really sure what to expect from a player they had seen so little of. Harris shined last year despite her pedestrian numbers. She averaged 6.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
The key to Harris' effectiveness is her consistency. She was one of two players to start every game for the Golden Eagles last year. She scored in every game she played and did the things that go unnoticed on the stat sheet.
"I feel my role is the same as last year," Harris said. "I'm an upperclassman now, finally, and it's just bringing enthusiasm, energy, everything to the team. It's doing the little things, playing defense, hustling, getting rebounds, doing whatever I can to help our team be successful this year."
Harris averaged over 22 minutes a game last season and the coaches took notice of her improvement from freshman year.
"Janelle is just an explosive player, I think that's the best way to describe her," coach Terri Mitchell said. "She comes in spurts and goes after you and I think she just matured with every minute that she had."
Harris' ability to score in spurts was even more important on nights when Marquette's big guns were struggling. She poured in a career-high 17 points at St. John's when Krystal Ellis struggled, shooting just 4-of-15 from the field. She scored 11 points against Arkansas Pine-Bluff while Angel Robinson was just 4-of-10 from the field.
"You know, everybody has their days," Harris said. "Some days one of us is doing good, other days it's someone else. I like my role on the team and the little things are what count."
Harris' team-first attitude is what makes her such a perfect fit. She understands that Ellis and Robinson can be dangerous offensively and looks to pick up her game in other areas when they handle the scoring. Her unselfishness also paved the way for freshmen like Paige Fiedorowicz and Jocelyn Mellen to make contributions and gain experience.
Harris' key attribute is her ability to go to the hoop aggressively, which can be refreshing on a team that took more than 14 3-pointers a game last year.
"She is definitely your slasher to the hoop, she has worked a lot on her outside game so that she's not one-dimensional, but I still think her resumé would say she's going to go the hoop first and foremost because of her strength," Mitchell said.
Harris took only 17 three-pointers last year, but with the caliber of shooters she is playing with she understood her points can come in different ways.
"Not everybody can be a 50-point scorer or a Krystal Ellis, but it's just doing the little things, getting key rebounds, key defensive stops and stuff like that," Harris said.
She is what James Posey was for the Celtics last season, or what Rick Fox was for the Lakers in the early 2000s, but above all she is effective on a team with lofty expectations.
After a WNIT title last season, this team appears ready and committed to taking the next step.
"I think we all realized how fun it is to win and we wanted to work even harder," Ellis said. "This summer we all worked harder than we did in the last summer, we all shot more, we came in the gym and worked out more, and we didn't complain as much."
