Ashlee Harrison walked out of the halftime locker room studying stat sheets from the first half of Friday night’s game against her alma mater.
Moments later, the first-year Norristown coach called three of her veteran players to the sidelines for some last-minute advice.
Harrison spent the night alternately offering encouragement and advice, and although ecstatic to be at the helm of the Eagles’ program, Harrison - an assistant at Wissahickon for four years – admits that facing her former team was no easy task.
“It was really difficult,” she said after her team’s 40-35 loss to the Trojans. “The seniors there – I have been with them since they were freshmen, so it’s difficult to be on the opposite side.
“For my players, it’s like, ‘You’re our coach now.’ There’s a little jealousy there. ”
There was a feeling of ownership on the Trojan sidelines as well.
“Ashlee’s a great coach,” Trojan junior Colleen Hinde said. “Just knowing she coached us last year, and she was such a good coach – coming out and playing against her, this was a big win for us.
“Just seeing her over there, we wanted to win.”
Trojan coach Jerry Hartman admitted that having Harrison on the opposing sideline added an extra dimension to the game.
“It’s always going to be competitive when you play against a former teammate or a former coach,” he said. “The girls wanted to show Ashlee that they have improved from last year. As much as they’re friends, they still are competitive on the court and wanted to win the game.
“It’s also nice from a coaching perspective to see someone you worked with move up in the ranks. She’s doing a nice job. They played extremely hard, and they’re going to be a team that’s a force in our league.”
Whether Harrison was applauding her team’s play or giving pointers on how to improve it, one fact was clear – the rookie coach is enjoying her new role.
“I’m so excited,” she said. “I couldn’t be at a better place. I think it’s absolutely perfect.”
Sitting on Norristown’s sidelines wasn’t something the former Wissahickon standout ever seriously considered.
Until, that is, last June when she received a phone call from her aunt – a teacher in the district - telling her the position had been posted.
“It came about very unexpectedly,” she said. “I actually had just moved, so I live close to the school. It was perfect location-wise, and obviously, I wanted to move up in the ranking, so moving from assistant to head coach was ideal as well.”
Harrison applied for the job, and within a week, it was hers.
“The day I was hired I had a meeting with the girls that afternoon, and they played in a summer league game that night,” she said. “I got things rolling immediately.
“The transition is exactly like I thought it would be. You would think you would be overwhelmed, but actually, I’m not. I think I was very prepared for this, and since I was an assistant for four years, I think I got the experience I needed. I was very ready to make the transition to the next step and become a head coach.”
Harrison not only brings coaching experience to the sidelines, she also was a standout player. The 2000 Wissahickon grad was a four-year varsity player for the Trojans, who won three SOL championships during her four years. She surpassed the 1,000-point mark and then took her talents to Gwynedd Mercy College.
Her career suffered a major setback when – going into her sophomore season – she went down with a knee injury. The prognosis – Harrison had torn her ACL, MCL and medial and lateral meniscus.
“I wrecked it really bad,” she said. “I was driving through the middle of the lane. I shot the ball and came down on my left leg, and it just snapped. I just fell on my own.
“Everything just went. It was terrible, absolutely terrible.”
Harrison had a first surgery in October and another one in January.
“Even after having my son, I still say there’s nothing worse than having an ACL surgery,” she said. “Nothing, nothing could be worse.”
Harrison did play basketball again, but things were never quite the same.
“I was so scared,” she said. “That’s when I was resigned to the fact that I just might be a better coach.”
And coaching is something that has come naturally for Harrison, who has given the Eagles’ program a shot in the arm when it needed it the most. The program was on shaky ground after the resignation of coach Keith Webster as well as the loss to graduation of last year’s entire starting lineup.
“When we went to our first basketball meeting and said she’d played basketball at Wissahickon and went to college and everything – I wasn’t worried,” Norristown junior Natasha Matthews said. “She’s a really good basketball coach, and she loves all of us as players.
“We all work hard, and she works harder for us. It’s very exciting.”
The Eagles sprinted out of the gate to a 5-0 mark but have since dropped a pair. Harrison, however, is liking what she’s seen from a nucleus that includes senior Brittany Rose (guard) and Mercedes Harris (forward). Junior Cashae Hinton has been capably running the show at point guard and is a threat to score. Junior center Natasha Matthews, a force under the basket, is the lone returning player who played meaningful varsity minutes last year.
“It was much easier than I thought it would be as far as being able to step in and implement my own offenses, my own defenses and just basically run the show by myself,” Harrison said. “To be able to say ‘You’re building this from the ground up’ – that’s what I was really excited about, especially since Norristown had been so discredited because all of the seniors that had graduated.
“Everyone didn’t realize there were still some athletes left in the wings to come out and play.”
And for Harrison, there’s no place she’d rather be than at the helm of a Norristown program with a future she hopes will be bright.
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