Jala Harris, no stranger to the Ohio Valley Conference and the state of Alabama, joins the JSU women’s basketball program as a graduate assistant on Rick Pietri’s staff.
Harris, who started her collegiate career at UAB, finished her career at OVC rival Tennessee Tech in 2012-13. She is a native of Madison, Ala. and prepped at Bob Jones High School.
In her two seasons in Cookeville, Tenn., she averaged over 14 points per game and 197 assists in 55 games. As a junior in 2011-12, Harris finished with a 15.2 points per game scoring mark as the leader of the Golden Eagles’ attack. She turned in her best outing of her career on January 12, 2013 with a 26-point contest at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Harris dished out a career-best eight assists against Austin Peay, while pulling down seven rebounds versus Alcorn State. The senior guard recorded five steals against Vanderbilt.
While at UAB, she was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year after setting a school record for freshmen with 103 assists along with averaging 15.8 points per game. Harris was a C-USA Second Team and All-Freshman Team honoree. As a freshman, she claimed the league’s op freshman award five times. Harris made an immediate impact at UAB as she poured in 25 points in her collegiate debut. She became the first freshman in C-USA history to score 40 points in a game against Marshall. Harris also turned in 24 double-digit contest as a rookie.
Harris starred at point guard for the Bob Jones High School girls program and helped guide BJHS to a pair of state championships and received the Miss Basketball award in the state of Alabama. She is the daughter of Willie and Carolyn Harris.
