Midway through the second quarter in a game last year against district rival Rio Rancho,
Cibola (Albuquerque,) standout
Kassandra Harris ripped off her face mask — the same one she was wearing to protect a broken nose she suffered in the previous game — and never put it back on before finishing with 37 points in leading her team to victory.
"That right there," Cibola coach Lori Mabrey said, "is all you need to know about Kassandra's competitiveness. She became a one-woman wrecking crew. She could have sat out the game because it was that painful. But Kassandra is as fierce as a competitor as they come."
Kassandra Harris, Cibola
Courtesy photo
Harris, a 5-foot-9 senior post, has Cibola (6-2) poised for a state title breakthrough. The Cougars reached the New Mexico 5A state championship game in 2009 and again two years later only to fall short as Nos. 11 and 9 seeds, respectively.
If Cibola reaches the championship game again this season, it won't be sneaking up on anyone.
That's because of a force like Harris, whose desire to excel and elevate her teammates to play at a higher level are unmatched, Mabrey said. Harris is averaging 16 points and 10.2 rebounds per game coming off a season in which she earned All-State honors for the second time.
Harris can score in a variety of ways, making it tough for opponents to stop her. When Harris has a taller player defending her, she uses her explosive first step to get to the basket. If there's a smaller player on her, the muscular Harris posts up deep inside the paint to get off shots from close range.
Mabrey said Harris possesses a unique combination of skill, tenacity and physicality. Even though Harris takes pride in her role as the team's main point producer, she takes even greater satisfaction in leading through her words.
"My goal has always been to be a better leader through my actions and my words," Harris said. "I want to inspire my team to be excellent. I'm very outspoken and I try to teach some of our younger players how to get things done."
Mabrey knows firsthand the value of having your best player doubling as a leader.
"Kassandra's leadership really shows up in the fire of competition," Mabrey said. "When the game is close, that's when her intensity and leadership shows."
Mabrey is particularly proud of the fact that Harris overcame some serious adversity before her prep career even started.
Before the start of her freshman season, Harris broke a school rule. It was serious enough that Mabrey made Harris begin the year on the junior varsity squad, though she had the talent to play at the highest level.
"Young kids make mistakes, and Kassandra made a pretty big one," said Mabrey, who politely declined to get into specifics. "Kassandra knew she definitely messed up, and she had to deal with the consequences. I'm proud of the way she carried herself back onto the team. She did it with a lot of grace, poise and humility."
Even though Harris' passion for basketball shows every time she's on the court, she wasn't always in love with the game. In fact, if it wasn't for Harris' grandfather, Angel Martinez, she might have never taken up basketball.
"I did competitive cheerleading starting in kindergarten, but my grandpa thought it would be a great idea if I started playing basketball in the fifth grade," Harris said. "I was a girl who liked to do girl things. I thought basketball was (strictly) a guy's sport, and I didn't want to get all sweaty and gross. I wasn't into it until I started playing."
It didn't take long for Harris to display a playing ability beyond her years. When she was called up to the varsity team late in her freshman season, she logged some significant minutes in the opening round of the state tournament.
"I threw her into the fire and she did just fine," Mabrey said.
For Harris, playing in the state tournament as a freshman was her welcoming audition to the varsity level.
"Coach put me in and I didn't know what I was doing," Harris said. "I was nervous and scared, but I ended up doing well."
Despite being one of the top five players in the state, Harris hasn't attracted a ton of interest from Division I programs.
"She's undersized as a post at the college level, but I have no doubt Kassandra will be a Division I player," Mabrey said. "Her game is college ready. If she goes the JC (junior college) route, she'll improve every year and earn her way onto a Division I team. Nothing has ever stopped her from reaching her goals."
