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DURHAM, N.C. -- Lindsey Harding always has been a sucker for a heartwarming comeback story.
"I love seeing athletes who make the best out of things when people think they've messed up," she says. "I don't care what happened. I care how you're going to bounce back. You've got to fight through it and be who you are."
The Duke junior is writing her own comeback story. After being suspended last season by Duke coach Gail Goestenkors for violation of undisclosed team rules, Harding has returned better than ever, leading her team to the Final Four in Boston. The Blue Devils beat Connecticut 63-61 in overtime Tuesday and face LSU on Sunday in a national semifinal.
The 5-8 point guard has nearly doubled her career scoring average, to 10.3 a game, and more than doubled her three-point production this season (23-for-52, 44.2%) while keeping her assists at 4.4 a game for a team that's leading Division I in scoring, assists and field goal percentage. Plus, she still plays her trademark defense and recently was named Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the year.
"Lindsey Harding, my gosh," was the reaction of Maryland coach Brenda Frese after Harding led an 86-68 win at Maryland in January. "She has taken off. She's used last year as motivation. She has gotten herself a complete game. She's so quick. She's doing such a great job of asserting herself as a tremendous leader."
Fifth-year senior and All-American Monique Currie, who considered leaving for the WNBA after last season, followed Harding back to campus, which gives Harding the key assist of the season.
"She's probably the biggest reason I decided to come back," Currie says. "She's such a great point guard and great leader. I know how important that is to a team, especially a team on a championship run."
The Blue Devils had been No.1 for part of the season, but their ultimate goal was making the Final Four. Goestenkors has taken three teams to the Final Four, reaching the title game in '99 and last reaching the semis in 2003.
Losing Harding shortly before last season was a blow to the player and team, but Harding has told friends the suspension was a blessing in disguise. Goestenkors agrees.
"It was necessary for her growth as a person," says Goestenkors, who, like Harding, declines to specify the infraction. "She needed to get things in the proper perspective. I told her I wanted her story to have a happy ending. In order to do that, the suspension was necessary."
Says Harding, "I needed to focus on me. That was a time for me to mature as a player and a person. I had gone through a lot in the summer (of 2004), a lot of personal things that changed me in good ways and maybe some not-so-good ways. Coach G was there for me mentally, and that helped me.
"I was worried about my team. I didn't want them to feel like I had let them down. They were very supportive and never once did they think I wasn't part of the team."
Harding maintained steady involvement with the program. During games, she kept statistics and made sure to sit within earshot of Goestenkors.
"Coach G would call a play and I'd be sitting on the bench, trying to think in my head why she was choosing this play, why she wanted this particular thing. I learned in that way," Harding says. "When you get a chance to sit on the bench and think through it, things make more sense."
Harding was there at practice every day, too, running the scout team, often assuming the role of the upcoming opponent's top scorer.
"Freshman and sophomore years, she was not looked on as a scorer for us," Goestenkors said. "She was strictly a playmaker. On the scout team last year, she had to be a scorer, so it made her a better player."
"She understands when we need to push and when we need to pull back and set up our offense and who needs the ball in which situation," Goestenkors added after Tuesday's win in the Bridgeport, Conn., Regional. "She's changed our look tremendously on both ends of the floor."
Now Harding is tough to guard. Besides being quick enough to get to the basket and having a dependable three-pointer, she has a more aggressive attitude. "I used to penetrate, and if I didn't have a layup, I'd pass it," Harding says. "Now I'm penetrating until someone stops me, and if they stop me I'll look for my own shot."
Her shot has improved, thanks to repetition. At Duke she spent a lot of time on The Gun, a machine that rebounds and passes basketballs, enabling her to get up to 20 shots a minute. While working at CBS Sports in New York City last summer, she maintained her shooting regimen at New York University.
Her game has improved so much that before Duke played Tennessee in January, Minnesota Lynx coach Suzie McConnell Serio wondered if Harding would declare for April's WNBA draft because she's eligible.
Harding shakes her head no when told of Serio's speculation: "Academics are so important, and Coach G has had so much belief and trust in me. She was there for me, so I feel I should be there for her. Another year would do nothing but help me."
Harding is scheduled to graduate in the spring with a major in sociology plus a minor in theater and a certificate in marketing management. She watched Currie make a similar decision last year to defer the WNBA for a final college season. "Why not get a Master's (degree) like Mo or pick up another major?" Harding says. "I've seen and learned from her. She's changed so much from last year to this year. And she's a much better player."
The same can be said for Harding.
Contributing: Andy Gardiner from Bridgeport, Conn.
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