Oscar-Shortlisted Doc ‘The Queen Of Basketball’ Tells Story Of Forgotten GOAT Of Women’s Game: “She Was Absolutely Extraordinary”
deadline.comIn the mid-1970s when the horn sounded for a Delta State University Lady Statesmen’s basketball game, center Luisa “Lucy” Harris could not be stopped.“The pass comes into No.
45 in the lane, she spins to the basket, elevates. Score!”That scene was repeated over and over again as she led her team to three straight college national championships, earning tournament MVP each time.
Not only that, when the Olympics finally added women’s basketball in 1976, she scored the first points in competition history, and led the U.S.
women to the silver medal at the Montreal games.Harris “held the distinction of being the [Olympic] team’s leading scorer and leading rebounder,” notes the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, where she is enshrined. “Lusia Harris-Stewart was big, relentless, and dominated the painted area like no woman before her.”Despite earning her place in the hoops hall, Harris’s incredible accomplishments have largely been forgotten—even the remarkable fact that she became the first and only woman ever officially drafted by an NBA team (chosen in 1977 by the New Orleans Jazz).
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