Alabama State’s board boss, Cordasia Harris, is always dressed to dominate

Whether the 6’1 Alabama State graduate forward is stylishly arriving to games with pink, red, purple, blonde, or yellow hair, dressed in her latest fashion fits, or grinding it out in her second home beneath the basket, she exemplifies hustle and style. Known for her persistence on the court, Harris loves living in the paint, battling for rebounds, with sweat dripping like a faucet, and ripped muscles firing with every play.

A tower of stamina, strength, and power, Harris even has a battle scar from all the fierce rebounding clashes, covered with a band-aid underneath her right eye. Yet, she proves that fierce determination looks just as good in stunning designer shoes as in sneakers.

Because, as an elite rebounder passionate about fashion, Harris understands the power of angles.

On the court, Harris excels at reading caroms and spin and shot trajectory, allowing her to position herself perfectly for rebounds. Off the court, Harris, a wardrobe wizard, connects to rapper Drake’s emphasis of angles in capturing the perfect photo for models from his hit song “Nice for What?“

There aren’t any tricks to how she plays. She’s old school, talented, tough, and gritty, just like Minnesota Lynx assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson. Beyond her superior effort and instincts, Harris’ perfect cocktail of quickness, timing, and tenacity leaves overwhelmed opponents woozy.

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And Harris is still producing, despite constantly being surrounded by two and sometimes three players. She is third in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in rebounding (8.7 per game), fourth in blocked shots (1.1), and 11th in scoring (11.6) as of Feb. 4.

She’s missed the Hornets last three games because of a lower body injury, but she is expected to return later this season.

Even with the increased attention from defenses, Harris, a Preseason All-SWAC First-Team selection, is still rebounding at a higher rate than last season during conference games. According to Her Hoop Stats, Harris’ total rebounding rate in SWAC games is 11.4 per game, up from last season’s 9.7. Her offensive rebounding rate this season is 4.1 per game, which is better than last year’s 3.1. Harris’ defensive rebounding rate is also slightly better at 7.3 per game from last season’s 6.6.

Harris has a simple rebounding philosophy.

“My thought process is to go get my team another possession or take away from the other team,” Harris said to The Next during a recent Zoom call. “I just want to take away all the opportunities they have. The best way I can do that is by rebounding because I know it’s one of my strengths, so I try to do that as best I can.”

Her best has been great on most nights. Harris has six double-doubles this season, with four coming in conference play. She finished with at least eight rebounds in the Hornets’ first seven SWAC games. In a solid come-from-behind victory over Prairie View A&M on Jan. 25, Harris finished with 26 points and 19 rebounds, the second-most in a single game this season by a SWAC player.

Harris helped Alabama State win its first two conference contests with monster performances. She had 19 points and 13 rebounds against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and a season-high 28 points and 16 rebounds against Mississippi Valley State. Those efforts earned her SWAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week and the BOXTOROW National Player of the Week honors. The Hornets are 5-1 this season when she has finished with a double-double. She also has five games of at least five offensive rebounds.

Not bad for somebody who didn’t have her sights on playing college basketball after leaving high school.

“I was thinking about going to the military, and then I met [Bishop State head coach and former Alabama State player Adria Harris], and she put the thought of me going to play at the next level,” Harris said. “Then when I learned about Alabama State. I was like, ‘I don’t think I’m ready,’ so the coach at Bishop State reached out to my high school coach … I feel like that was going to be a better step for me to go and develop my game to be able to play at a higher level. So that’s what I did.”

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While it took some time for Harris to find her offensive touch, she focused on the nuances of rebounding. Her ability to score with both hands makes her both a versatile and formidable player and a nightmare for her opponents.

Harris is shooting 60% and scoring 4.3 points per 40 minutes on put-backs this season, according to CBB Analytics. She’s also taken 54.5% of her shots this season at the rim while making 57% of them, according to CBB.

Long conversations with her dad, Cory, transformed Harris into the basketball equivalent of a forensic examiner, as she meticulously analyzed angles and ball placements on the backboard.

Harris was also more athletic when she first started playing, which helped her gain a winning edge. Her dad also told Harris she needed to learn to love playing in the air, which explains her leaping ability. According to veteran Alabama State head coach Freda Freeman Jackson, who is in her 26th year, Harris embodies Angel Reese‘s energy on the glass because she is always around the ball and is relentless.

“I’m just so happy to have her,” Freeman Jackson said. “Getting her here was a long, drawn-out process. I had to recruit her, although one of my former players coached her at Bishop State. She had some other mid-major schools that were recruiting her. I was trying to let her know she could come here and make a name for herself. I eventually convinced her of that, and I told her that since [Bishop State head coach] Adria Harris had played for me for four years, it’ll be an easier transition for her to come to Alabama State.”

Averaging 15 rebounds and 20.0 points per game while shooting 57.4% from the floor in her final year at Bishop State, Harris is happy to be playing less than an hour from her hometown of Hayneville, Alabama. Attending an HBCU was important to her.

Not only has she made her mark on the court with over 800 points and 500 rebounds for her career, Harris is also an honor student, a distinction that fills her with pride. Her academic success is as impressive as her athletic achievements. With an undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies while minoring in psychology and management, Harris wants to be a sports psychologist to help athletes with matters related to mental health. She’s also currently pursuing a master’s degree in business.

This season has made Harris proud because of her leadership and growth. Concurrently, the Hornets have endured the adversity of having three key players out for the season with injuries. Even though Harris has been a rock of consistency, she has been happy seeing others shine while she recuperates.

Stepping up lately to offer help for Alabama State has been 6’0 forward Kaitlyn Bryant, who scored a career-high 24 points in a recent loss to first-place Texas Southern. Supplying energy off the bench, Bryant has scored in double figures in five of the Hornets’ last eight games, averaging 13.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Also making key contributions lately for the Hornets have been 5’5 senior guard Taylor Smith, who scored 14 points and handed out five assists against Texas Southern.

Instead of using her voice, Harris prefers leading with her positive attitude, steady work ethic, silent encouragement, punctuality and, of course, her fashion sense.

“She’s pretty bashful when it comes to [being vocal], but she’ll pull them to the side,” Freeman Jackson said. “Outwardly saying something to them that’s not her personality. I told her we need that a little more, especially with this team. She’s always been a double-double machine. The thing that I’m most proud of her is being able to understand that the team that she’s been playing on is that she hasn’t had another big that can cause problems and cause teams not to double. It has been challenging, but she’s been weathering the storm.” And she’s likely weathering the storm in a cool jacket, too.

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