FLORA — Alli Harness was sitting in class, scrolling through Twitter when she noticed her name in a post.
OK, I'll click it.
It was a story announcing the Carroll (Flora) junior standout as a member of the Indiana All-Stars, selected to the six-player Core Group that plays both the Kentucky Junior All-Stars and Indiana All-Stars. Harness had been dreaming of this moment since she was in fourth grade, to have the opportunity to represent her Class 2A school of 337 students as the Cougars' first (and thus far only other) Indiana All-Star since Darlene Zinn in 1977.
"I was just like, 'Oh my gosh,'" Harness said, letting her jaw drop as she mimicked her disbelief. "I just sat there like this for 10 minutes. It was definitely a 'wow' moment."
Ashlynn Brooke fulfilling a dream:'What a blessing it is to be an Indiana All-Star.'
The 5-8 guard's first call after school was to her parents, of course, the ones who've supported her through her entire journey. They had seen it on Twitter, as had Harness' grandparents, who were her next call. They never miss a game or a tournament, she said — Alli's grandma keeps score during Carroll home games — and have even accompanied her on a few college visits.
"I was just so happy and was just like, 'What's actually happening?'" Harness said. "It's been my dream since I was little, so it's an amazing feeling."
She is certainly deserving. A Western Michigan commit and the , she averaged 23.6 points, 5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.3 steals over 25 games for the Cougars (22-4), with a 47% field goal percentage and a 37% 3-point percentage. Harness already holds the school's all-time scoring record (1,635 points), and enters her senior season within reach of 400 career assists (353) and 300 steals (233).
Harness put on the Indiana All-Stars jersey for the first time Sunday, scoring six points with a couple steals and an assist over 24 minutes against the Kentucky Juniors. She'll play twice more this week: Wednesday against the Indiana All-Stars at Cathedral, then Sunday as part of the inaugural Futures Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
"Alli definitely deserves it. She represents the community and Carroll very well off the court and on the court," coach Brady Wiles said. "When you have somebody who's a good kid and able to promote our program from the elementary age, she's as valuable as it gets. Add that to the statistics, she 100% deserves it. It means a lot to us and we're very proud of her for accomplishing that."
'You tell her to shoot more'
Harness was understandably nervous when she made her varsity debut as a freshman in Nov. 2020. Not only was there significant buzz surrounding her arrival and the team's potential, but Carroll was opening the season against 4A Kokomo. "I was a little shaken," said Harness, who still finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, four steals and an assist.
Not bad for a freshman on Night 1.
Harness' second game against Lewis Cass, though. That was bad, bad.
Four points on 1-of-19 shooting and 0-for-10 from 3.
Somewhere around Harness' ninth missed 3, Wiles turned to assistant coach Kyle Wagner and asked at what point they should tell her to stop shooting. The Dayton basketball alum, who coached Harness in junior high and had two daughters on the team, looked at Wiles and laughed. "Brady, she's going to win you a lot of games. You tell her to shoot more."
"I really took that to heart," Wiles said. "Since Game 2 of her freshman year, I've never considered a shot she's taken as a bad shot. … I heard what Kyle said and it gave me 10 times more confidence in her. I pushed her to flush it and not let one bad half turn into two bad halves. From her freshman year on, she was able to do that on her own."
Harness admits her confidence was shaken, but after talking with Wiles and her dad, she shifted focus and got back in the gym, spending the week off for Thanksgiving working on her game and rebuilding her confidence. Harness learned her lesson that week, she said, and has made a habit of getting back in the gym following bad shooting games.
Eight days after the Cass game, Harness went for 26 points with three 3-pointers against Twin Lakes. Two games later, she dropped a school-record 41 and finished 7-for-14 from 3 in a wild 80-76 overtime win at Tipton. Harness cleared 20 points in eight of 10 games during December, with that 41-point outburst followed soon after by a 30-point effort vs. Maconaquah.
By season's end, the prolific shooter was averaging 22 points on 41% shooting. On nights when shots weren't falling, she focused on facilitating (5.3 apg) and dialed up her defensive intensity (3.7 spg).
Two broken wrists, 26 points and a sectional title
Wiles remembers the look on Pioneer coach Jeff Brooke's face when Harness, playing with two broken wrists, hit her second shot of the 2022 Class 2A Sectional 37 championship game and forced an early Panthers timeout.
Oh crap.
Harness, who could barely even dribble the week before — her wrists were "stuck," she explained — knocked down nine field goals, including three 3-pointers, and scored a team-high 26 points that night, lifting Carroll to a stunning 66-61 upset of the defending Class A state champions.
"It was the craziest thing I've ever seen," Wiles said.
Harness suffered a hairline fracture in her left wrist and a full break of her right wrist Jan. 14 against rival Clinton Prairie, the result of a nasty fall underneath the basket. Though there was no tendon damage, with a critical summer recruiting period upcoming, it was in Harness' best interest to shut it down.
But she was determined to play.
"I wanted to win. I wanted to win so badly," Harness said. "Carroll hadn't won a sectional in a long time, and we wanted to make history. I wanted it so bad, (to do it) with my girls and for my girls, and for the community — I knew I had to step up to the challenge."
Harness' role in lifting the Cougars to their first sectional championship since 2017 is the stuff of legends, but if not for a bit of divine intervention, this story never takes shape.
A massive snowstorm postponed the sectional tournament to the first week of February, leaving Carroll with a full week between its regular-season finale (Jan. 25) and its postseason opener vs. three-win Manchester (Feb. 5).
The Sunday before their rescheduled game, Harness — who had been staying "mentally ready" as she gradually regained movement in her left wrist — asked her dad if he'd accompany her to the gym. She really wanted to try dribbling and had an idea for retooling her jumpshot with some mobility in her left wrist and a wrap around her the brace on her right wrist.
Harness made her first shot. "I was like, 'No way. I think I can do this,'" Harness said, proudly. "I was still really nervous, but I knew I could do it and had confidence in myself."
"Then I tried dribbling," she laughed. "Eh, I can do it. It'll be OK."
Not unlike the start to her freshman season, Harness' sectional championship run began with two inauspicious performances — two points against Manchester, then eight against Cass to reach 1,000 for her career. And with Pioneer and Ball State commit Ashlynn Brooke looming in the final, Wiles admits the team's semifinal win felt like the high-water mark.
But then Harness came down the right side against Pioneer and hit a 12-foot floater as she fell out of bounds — "I kind of shot-put it and it went in," she laughed — then hit a second shot. Before long, she and Madison Wagner (who was exceptional in Harness' absence) caught fire, leading the Cougars to one of the tournament's most improbable wins.
"She was feeling it," Ashlynn Brooke said, praising Wagner's performance in the game, as well. "Shooters shoot no matter what, (even) if you have broken wrists."
Future focused
A long-time family friend, the first time Wiles saw Harness dribble and shoot was during halftime at one of her older brother's games. "Even in second grade you could tell she was different than everyone else," he said, recalling the future Indiana Junior All-Star dribbling between her legs and knocking down shots from the free throw line with perfect form.
Harness began her career with the Boys and Girls Club in Frankfort, then entered the AAU ranks as a first grader with a team in Lafayette, where she was coached by former Purdue players KK Houser, April Wilson and Abby Abel through fifth grade. Harness wanted to be just like them, and recalls marveling at the number of people (coaches and fans alike) who would line up to watch other in-state standouts during summer tournaments and events.
Now that's her.
"All the support I've gotten is really awesome," Harness said. "To represent the state, represent the community here (as an Indiana All-Star), and just to be named to that core group is amazing. I'm really excited to be out there."
For as good as Harness' first three seasons have been, her finale could be the best yet, with Carroll expected to return four senior starters, plus a few talented and hungry underclassmen ready to compete for the fifth spot and for minutes off the bench.
"I'm just excited to have a run with them and to see what we bring to the table, and everything that's going to happen," Harness said. "We have a lot of things to work on as a team, so I'm excited to get in the gym with them this summer and help girls get better; help them realize that we're going to go far next year."
