By SEAN GOLDEN (LancasterEagleGazette.com) –
PICKERINGTON – Give Emilee Harmon credit for having some flair to go along with her basketball prowess.

After the Pickerington Central junior set up a meeting with Ohio State women’s basketball coach Jim Foster and his staff on Monday, she and her father, Larry, created a T-shirt that sported three words important to her and Ohio State’s basketball future.

When Harmon removed her jacket at the meeting, she revealed the shirt that brought to an end her recruiting process.

It read: “Future Lady Buckeye.”

“She had it all scripted,” Larry Harmon said. “When she makes her mind up, she does it big time. She’s always been very mature and made very good decisions.”

The Pickerington Central junior committed Monday to play basketball for Ohio State beginning in 2009.

The 6-foot-2 standout has had college coaches flooding her inbox for more than two seasons. Now she can put all the commotion of the recruiting process behind her.

“It feels really good, but it feels really weird also,” Harmon said. “It’s like ‘Wow, it’s over.’

“With committing (on Monday), it’s like… I don’t have to answer anybody’s e-mails or anybody’s calls tomorrow. I can just sit back and go to basketball practice.”

Harmon said she had recently narrowed down a list that included many of the top programs in the country to five finalists: Duke, Stanford, Notre Dame, Purdue and Ohio State.

The Buckeyes felt like the right fit for the Tigers’ junior for a number of different reasons. But the most important might have been location.

“Just having all my friends and family around here, they can come to my games, I can see them whenever I want to,” Harmon said.

Harmon comes off a season in which she averaged 18.8 points and eight rebounds a game and was a first-team all-Ohio selection. The Tigers won their third straight district title thanks in no small part to the junior’s efforts.

There wasn’t a long list of people that Harmon consulted before deciding on the Buckeyes. Her father said she called a family meeting on Sunday night upon returning from an AAU tournament in Cincinnati to let her parents know about her choice.

“I’m a pretty independent person and I keep to myself,” Harmon said. “Everyone I’ve ever talked to told me when you know it’s right, don’t second-guess yourself, just go with how you feel.”

Harmon might have to stamp her passport in the near future thanks to her basketball talents. She will try out at USA Basketball’s U-18 National Team Trials in Colorado Springs, Colo., beginning June 9.

Should Harmon be one of the 12 players named to the team from the 35 who will try out, the first stop on the U-18 team’s tour will be Buenos Ares, Argentina.

Harmon said she’s excited and a bit apprehensive about the opportunity.

“I’m nervous about it,” she said. “It’s awesome, it’s definitely an honor. You’re going against players who are going to be in college. You don’t want to be intimidated and I don’t plan on being.”

Harmon said that players like fellow OSU signees Amber Stokes and Samantha Prahalis are another reason why she chose the Buckeyes.

Stokes is the daughter of former men’s Buckeye guard Ronnie Stokes. Prahalis was the Gatorade Player of the Year in New York and will also try out for USA Basketball’s U-18 team.

“They’ve got great players going in,” Harmon said. “They have the talent to get a national title. I wouldn’t have gone there unless I thought that.”

With her commitment to the Buckeyes out of the way, Harmon can now put her focus elsewhere.

“It started weighing on her,” Larry said. “I’ve seen such a difference in her since she had her meeting (with Foster on Monday).”

Pickerington Central’s Emilee Harmon dribbles the ball during the second quarter
against Groveport at Pickerington High School North this past season.
Harmon has orally committed to play for Ohio State in the fall. E-G file photo