Family affair

ALBANY — Growing up, Keiyanna Harris remembers playing kickball with her twin first cousins, DeAmber and DeAngel Harris.

Only, they used a basketball.

Now senior starters at Calhoun County, the Harris girls use a basketball for a different reason. Each is averaging double figures so far for the Lady Cougars this season, with point guard DeAmber and shooting guard DeAngel averaging 10 and 13 points, respectively, while Keiyanna leads the Lady Cougars with 17 in the post.

“It’s always supposed to be about family,” Keiyanna said Wednesday at practice. “Once you get the ball to them, they will go straight to the hoop and I can put it back in if they miss. And if (DeAngel) has a wide-open shot, she can take it and will most likely sink it.”

There’s a reason for the harmony they enjoy on the court: They have the same harmony at home. DeAmber and DeAngel transferred from Monroe so they could play at Calhoun County and they have lived with Keiyanna for the past three years.

“We just joke around and have fun,” DeAmber said. “We get along really well.”

It’s a diverse synergy, however, that keeps the three girls together, said Keiyanna’s mother, Shirley Ingram, who played center at Calhoun County and graduated in 1979.

“Basically, each one of them does her own thing,” Ingram said with a laugh. “DeAmber loves hoops on TV, Keiyanna loves using the computer and DeAngel loves the telephone.”

DeAngel and DeAmber’s mother, Tania Harris, also played for the Lady Cougars, and was an all-around player who graduated from Calhoun County in 1981.

On the court, the three Harris’ objective is simple: relying on DeAngel’s hot hand, Keiyanna’s ability to score underneath or DeAmber’s knack to get them the ball from the point.

“They depend on me a lot down low,” Keiyanna said. “If my game is not on, I depend on them. But like I said earlier, when DeAngel is shooting from the outside, it’s usually falling into the basket.”

Keiyanna, however, doesn’t appear to be the only one who can hustle after a missed shot or loose ball, according to Calhoun County coach Cornelius Walker.

“All three are physical,” said Walker, whose team is 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the GHSA Region 1A-A. “They bring a physical presence to the team. That’s what I like most about them.”

DeAmber and Keiyanna started most of last season, and then DeAngel joined them in the lineup just before the region tournament began. The bond then grew from there.

“You get one of us mad or frustrated and the other will help us out,” DeAngel said.

In the heat of competition, that’s sometimes easier said than done. The family bond, however, makes the process much smoother.

“If DeAngel gets mad, I can chill her out, and with Keiyanna, it’s the same thing,” DeAmber said.

Since DeAngel and DeAmber are twins, oftentimes their emotions mirror each other.

“When DeAngel misses a shot, she gets down and I get down,” DeAmber said.

Keiyanna says that’s just the way it works when you’re dealing with siblings who are so close — and want to win so very bad.

“They’re playing for each other, so the team has to run through them,” she said. “There is definitely a chemistry.”

And Ingram said it has been exciting to watch all three mature both on and off the court in the early part of the season.

“It’s just a pleasure to see my two nieces graduate high school next spring and see what they will do with their lives, and as for my daughter, she is the baby of the family,” Ingram said. “It will be great to see them excel at whatever they try to do in the future.”