GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 4 70
A
t the end of her seventh-grade season, some-
thing happened that would change the course
of Ae'Rianna Harris' basketball career.
She blocked a shot, her first.
There would be many more.
It was Lynhurst vs. Southport in the early spring of
2011 when the Giants' defense broke down and Harris
had to respond.
"One of our guards got beat, so I was like, 'Oh, let me
try to stop her,'" said Harris, who attended Lynhurst in In-
dianapolis before Ben Davis and Lawrence North for high
school. "But I hit the ball and I didn't even realize that was
something you could do.
"But I went for it and the crowd went wild. I was like,
'OK, I think I can get used to this,' so I tried it again and
they didn't call a foul. (I thought), 'OK, I think I can work
with this.'"
Indeed, she did. As of mid-February, the 6-foot-1 fresh-
man was tied for third in the Big Ten in blocks per game,
averaging 2.0 per outing (55 through 28 games), one
short of Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton's freshman record. And
'Everyone's Invited'
Harris likely to
break freshman
blocks record
Charles Jischke
In her first season at Purdue, Ae'Rianna Harris has proven to
be more than only an athlete. She's impacted the Boilermak-
ers defensively, on pace to set a freshman blocks record, but
on offense, too.
BY KYLE CHARTERS
KCharters@GoldandBlack.com
