This is the first of a five-part series highlighting the freshmen members of the women's basketball team.
For someone who began playing basketball at a relatively late age, freshman point guard Lindsey Harding has come a long way.
Throughout most of her childhood, Harding was a track star, running for the Junior Olympic Track Team year-round in her hometown of Houston. As a young girl, she dreamed of someday becoming a great college runner, and given the five track and field records that she set in high school, Harding probably could have excelled in many of the nation's top programs.
However, when she entered seventh grade, Harding's athletic career took a decidedly different turn.
"In junior high we only had three main sports--basketball, volleyball and track," Harding said. "The coaches told me I should try out for basketball, so I did and I loved it. From then on I just never stopped playing."
Harding's talent on the basketball court quickly became obvious.
In only her first year in the sport, she played a game against Nina Norman--a current star for the University of Texas.
Norman's father recognized Harding's potential and asked her to play on his AAU team. She gladly accepted the offer, and her basketball skills developed rapidly playing with a talented group.
"We just had a great bunch of girls," Harding said. "From that team, three are now playing for the University of Texas, one plays for Kansas and me for Duke. Playing with them helped me so much."
By the time she was in eighth grade, just one year after she picked up the sport, Harding started receiving questionnaires from basketball programs throughout the country.
Duke became involved in the recruiting process during Harding's freshman year in high school, and that same year the program invited her to attend its summer basketball camp.
After thoroughly enjoying her first experience at the Duke Basketball Camp, Harding returned for two more summers.
"I decided to come to the camp again after my freshman year because the coaches were recruiting me, I was interested in the school and I loved the campus," she said. "The competition at the camp was also great, and I got to know [current Duke players] Sheana Mosch and Michele Matyasovsky."
In addition to those experiences, Harding's time at the camp gave her the chance to meet head coach Gail Goestenkors personally.
"We had a chance to talk about Duke, and she also told me that she would come to watch me play an AAU game," Harding said. "When head coaches say that, they usually just send ssdffsdfa
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