by Sean Begin
When the regular starting center for the women’s basketball team – senior Johnna Fisher – went down with an injury, it would become necessary for someone from the bench to step in and fill that role for the team.
Coach Beryl Piper turned to sophomore Amanda Harrington, who is now in her third season with the Blue Devils after redshirting her freshman year and coming off the bench for the team last season.
“Amanda definitely has to pick up the slack in the post spot,” said Piper before the start of the season. “She’s been doing a really good job so far in practice and in our scrimmage games. We’re excited about how she’s going to play.”
So far this season, Harrington has played well and seen action in all six of the Blue Devils’ games, getting the start in three of them while playing at least nineteen minutes in five of them.
In those five games, Harrington has averaged 24.7 minutes per game while putting up 7.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game as well.
Despite the increased role she’s been getting, Harrington remains focused on the team and what she needs to do to improve the chances of a team win.
“It’s nice to play, everyone wants to play,” she said. “But even when I don’t play, I don’t get down on myself. Whoever’s out on the court, I try to encourage them, keep them going.”
Harrington notes that she needs to focus on rebounding, saying “That’s what I have to do. Offensive, defensive. Rebound, get [the ball] out and run. And that’s because of my foot speed. I have to get out so we can get transition points.”
So far this season, Harrington is third on the team in rebounding behind starting seniors Jessica Babe and Lauren Arbogast and has shown she can play effective minutes for Central.
Harrington comes from a basketball family. Her father played college ball and picked up the sport again after Harrington showed an interest in it and began playing with AAU club teams at the age of nine. Harrington’s younger sister, like herself, played basketball and volleyball in high school while her brother played high school hoops as well.
Listed as both a power forward and center, Harrington says she prefers to play more towards the center position, but finds herself having to play it differently. Rather than backing down an opponent in the post, Harrington has to rely on her speed.
“Because I’m not the biggest I don’t have the strength as much,” she said. “But I have the foot speed so I have to learn to get around more, to use my quickness against someone else’s size.”
Even though Harrington doesn’t have the size as other centers, she used the opportunity provided for her during her redshirt season to build up her strength.
“Redshirting helped me because I still got to practice; I still got to do extra workouts. So it helped me strengthen who I am. I got used to handling the workload of school and basketball,’ said Harrington.
The gradual adjustment to Division I basketball has helped Harrington settle into her increased role easily.
“Sometimes it’s still a little nerve wracking for me to get into the game because I get overexcited,” she said. “But I think because I redshirted, I got to sit and watch and still got to practice and get better, it’s actually helped me transition into it pretty easily.”
Harrington has had the help of the injured Fisher during practice, getting advice and pointers from the senior, who will give Harrington specific goals in practice to work towards to help improve her game.
“She’ll pull me aside at practice and say ‘Hey, you have to offensive rebound this next play, you have to do this the next play.’ It’s given me things to work for and work harder at. She’s been that voice in the back of my head,” said Harrington.
Harrington says that the help she’s gotten from Fisher has helped her see and play the game better. It’s a treatment she got when she came to New Britain for a visit before agreeing to play ball for Central.
“When I came for my official [visit] the girls were very family-oriented. They were really nice and open to me. It just felt right here,” she said.
Central not only offered Harrington a place to play college basketball, but also a place to earn a degree in her chosen field of graphic design. For Harrington, playing for Central fit both academically, as well as athletically, by helping to make a positive change to her game.
“I’ve definitely gotten more confident coming here. I’m not the biggest center but I’ve been able to learn what I’m good at, what I’m not good at and be able to adjust to how to play.”
Harrington and the Blue Devils next hit the court on Sunday on the road against Vermont.