An old translated Chinese proverb states: “Every year new dukes are made, but not every year is a king born.”
Saint Louis University’s King was born a little more than 20 years ago; being a lady she wouldn’t reveal exactly how long ago that was. That’s right, SLU’s King, is really a queen–of the hard courts that is–and her name is Harmonie
A little more than four years ago, Harmonie King came to SLU from a small town named Mt. Sterling, just outside Lexington, Ky., deep in the heart of basketball country. King has played organized basketball since the third grade, but that’s not to say that third grade was the first time she picked up a ball.
“I have two older brothers and an older sister, and we all played basketball. We actually played pretty much every sport,” King said.
In high school, King was a Parade Magazine honorable mention All-American as a senior, where she was also a runner-up for the honor of Ms. Basketball in the state of Kentucky. She was also first team All-State and All-Region.
King’s older sister played basketball at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. Given her family’s basketball abilities, it’s no surprise that King went on to play Division I basketball. In fact, it was something she had planned on doing all along. The only question was where.
“I wanted to go to a smaller school in a big city with great academics, so SLU fit my profile. I also really liked Coach (Jill Pizzotti),” King said.
“Coach Pizzotti said that I could come in and play. And I didn’t want to go to a bigger school and sit behind some girl for a couple years while I was supposed to be learning the system,” King said. “That’s not me. I don’t want to sit.”
King has definitely made the most of her opportunities since becoming a Billiken, even though she has missed 20 games the past two seasons due to various injuries, including missing the first 15 games of the 2000-2001 season after tearing the ACL in her left knee. But after getting rid of the injury bug in the 2001-2002 season, King was named the team’s most improved player.
“I finally got to get out there on the cour, and I was able to show people what I could do,” King said.
When the season started, there was a lot of uncertainty about who was going to step up and start for the team. However, King has steadily climbed the ranks and become one of the go-to threats for the Bills. She had a career performance last week against South Florida, when she recorded her first career double-double, snagging 11 rebounds and adding 18 points to the Billikens win.
The Billikens are in the midst of a 14-12 season and are trying to finish strong as they head into the Conference USA Tournament and maybe even the NCAA Tournament later down the stretch.
King will be a big part of the team’s future success, as SLU will look to her for continuous scoring production and to help lead the Billikens into post-season play this year.
