After searching high and low for a great passing guard, OU coach Sherri Coale's search concluded in November with the signing of St. Thomas Aquinas' DaShawn Harden.
With the 2011 recruiting season just months from its early signing period, St. Thomas Aquinas (Overland Park, Kan.) guard
Dashawn Harden and Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale each realized they had something to offer the other.
Harden was looking for a tradition rich program that could hone her skills and offer her a quality education. Coale, on the other hand, needed a pass-happy guard with the ability to break down a defense.
Oklahoma recruit Dashawn Harden.
Photo by Dean Backes
Coale offered the 5-foot-9-inch guard a scholarship and Harden sealed the deal with her signature on a letter of intent in November, 2010.
"I like her ability to pass the ball," Coale said of Harden last week. "She has great vision. It's been a number of years since we've had a great passer at the guard position. We've had great passers here recently, just not at the guard position."
The 14-year Sooner coach became aware of Harden's abilities through the scouting of her coaching staff. Once she saw Harden's talents for herself, Coale set out to sign her.
"I really liked her work ethic and her versatility," Coale recalled. "Her skill set is amazing. She really fits into our system and what we like to do. I think she has the ability to be a special college basketball player. She has no glaring weaknesses and she is able to do a number of things. DaShawn has a chance to be incredible."
According to Harden, her recruitment started early with an offer from Arkansas during the summer before her seventh grade season. Eventually, Harden committed to Kansas before changing her mind and giving the final nod to the Sooners. After conferring with her mother, Rita, Harden decided Oklahoma was a better fit for her athletically and academically.
"The coaches are very good at Oklahoma and I know I'll get a good education," Harden said of her new basketball home. "They have an academic center for athletes only and the coaches are honest with you. They don't sugar coat things. They are very straightforward and I like people like that."
Softball was the first sport Harden attempted to tackle, but eventually basketball won her over. The preseason Class 5A first team all-state guard has been ruling the basketball court since the third grade.
One of Harden's fonder basketball memories takes her back to an Oklahoma tournament in which she and her seventh grade teammates dismantled and upended the Wichita Blazers, a team consisting of present day Wichita Heights players. The Falcons are considered by many to be the cream of the crop in Kansas Class 6A this season.
"Everybody was afraid of them," recalled Harden. "Not me though. I'm really, really competitive. If somebody tells me something can't be done, I set out to prove them wrong. I'd really like to play them again. We want to play them. We're always talking about different teams we want to play, and they are on top of that list. Wichita Heights and (defending 6A champion) Olathe South."
The Saints won't get that opportunity this postseason. But they will get the shot to improve on last season's Class 5A runner-up finish. St. Thomas Aquinas fell to Andover Central 44-36 in the title game a year ago.
It's a contest Harden would like to have back after foul trouble benched her early.
"I think you need to stick with what got you there," Harden offered after being asked if there was anything she learned in last season's championship game that she could carry over to this postseason. "And I need to do a better job of reading the ref(eree)s. I got into foul trouble early, even after coach told me that if I picked up my second foul in the first half he'd make me sit the rest of the half.
"Playing in the championship was pretty cool though. It was a good feeling. I really can't explain it. I was nervous and excited all at the same time."
Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}Harden explained that the Saints are just a state title away from achieving their 2010-11 goals of an undefeated season and a state championship. Aquinas is 20-0 going into postseason play next week.
"We just take it one game at a time," Harden said. "That way we won't get overwhelmed. We try to focus on that next game and not on the second game coming up. We're always talking about the things we did wrong, so we don't think we're a perfect team. Coach (Rick Hetzel) is a perfectionist. He gets mad about every little thing."
Harden considers herself to be the team's peacemaker, the one that distributes the ball and builds confidence in her teammates. In doing so, she hopes that her teammates will know how to react should the Saints play their way into the title game again this year.
By no means is Harden a cocky basketball player. She is modest. However, she does not lack self-confidence.
"I want to be a freshman All-American," Harden was quick to point out when asked of goals she may be prepared to lay out for her inaugural season in Norman. "I want to be the freshman Player of the Year. I just want to win a lot. Winning is a big deal. If I lose I get really mad."
Just when he thinks he's seen it all, Hetzel is sometimes bewildered by Harden's ability to get the ball in to her teammates. It's usually not until he watches game film that he realizes how she threaded the needle at times. Even then, it can be hard to digest.
For Coale, Harden's ability to score makes her the threat that she is today.
"Not only is she a great passer," Coale said, "she's a scorer too. The fact that she can score at any time makes her that much more effective. Being a great passer goes only so far. They have to respect her. She has the ability to find people and get the ball to them in a position where they can do something with it."
Last Monday, in a 49-37 win over Blue Valley Northwest, Harden set a standard for career steals at the school, providing evidence that her defense is stellar as well. Harden surpassed Jacquie Rzeszut's career mark of 334 steals set from 1995-99.
When Harden hangs up her Aquinas jersey at the conclusion of the 2010-11 season, she will be joining former Derby post Joanna McFarland in Norman. She will step in and hope to immediately replace Sooner guards Danielle Robinson and Lauren Willis, who played for Hetzel from 2003-07.
The entire Saints squad attended Oklahoma's 75-57 win over Kansas in Lawrence in January. But Harden hasn't been in much contact with either Sunflower State Sooner since.
Harden, a fan of the NBA, often tries to pick up tips by watching her favorite players. But she gets her inspiration from her mother's words of wisdom.
"She randomly texts me stuff before each game," Harden said of her mother. "Things like, ‘You can do anything if you put your mind to it.' And, ‘You can if you think you can.'"
If an opposing player tries to get in Harden's way, her objective is to do something that will make that defender less confident. But once the game is over, Harden leaves everything on the court.
"Coach Hetzel taught me that you go out and play … and you play hard," she said. "But you don't beat your opponent to embarrass them. Afterwards you help them and you pick them up."
