Harrison hopes to lead Bulldogs to playoffs
Junior, Toni Harrison dribbles down the court against Gregori High School.
January 31, 2014
In her first year playing varsity basketball, Tracy High junior Toni Harrison is feeling a lot of pressure.
She feels like she has been inconsistent, that she needs to work on her passing, and moving her feet on defense. She thinks about how she wants to make better shooting choices.
“I just want to be better as the season goes on,” Harrison said.
Harrison must be doing something right, though. The 5-foot, 9-inch guard leads the Bulldogs with 13.4 points per game and 3.7 rebounds.
Going into the Jan. 30 game against Franklin, the Bulldogs are 10-11 overall and 3-1 in the San Joaquin Athletic Association (SJAA).
Coach Derek Solano said Harrison brings a nice all-round game.
“She plays a good team defense,” Solano said. “She is our best scoring threat.”
Harrison does feel good about some aspects of her game. She feels like she knows how to get her teammates involved. She feels like she has fouled people less. (She had 40 fouls through 19 games.)
When she is having a good shooting night, Harrison is nearly unstoppable. Her best league game came at Lodi on Jan. 16 when she scored 22 points in a 48-45 loss.
“I felt I did well, “Harrison said, “but I felt like I could have done other aspects like get more assists and to get fewer turnovers.”
Harrison’s strengths for the game is the mid-range and knows how to use other people to get the ball to her teammates.
Harrison is focused on all the things she wants to improve, probably because she is used to playing at highly competitive level.
Harrison plays for the Nor Cal Sparks, her travel team out of Sacramento.
She also got to play summer league with her travel team to prepare herself for high school season.
“The travel team is more competitive than high school,” Harrison said. “High school season gets me occupied.”
Harrison feels that the season with the team is going “alright.” She feels that the team is still working on its chemistry and if the players could come together, they could do much better.
“I would like to see someone become a bit more consistent offensively to ease the burden on her to score,” Solano said.
Solano would like to see the team play their ability. If the team works on their weaknesses, they have a good chance to go far into the post-season.
Harrison understands the pressure of playing at the varsity level is high.
“When the varsity plays, more people come to watch and it feels nerve-racking,” Harrison said.
The next girls’ varsity game is tonight against Franklin High at Tracy at 7:00 p.m.
