March 10 now holds additional significance for Florida Southern College women’s basketball coach Betsy Harris.

On Sunday, the former Decatur High School and University of Alabama alumna stood courtside as Camille Giardina completed a 3-point play in the waning seconds to give Florida Southern a 61-60 victory over Eckerd in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament championship game.

The win handed Harris’ Moccasins their second-consecutive Sunshine State Conference championship, and for Harris, history had repeated itself.

“When we won the conference championship (Sunday), it was 29 years to the day that we won a state championship at Decatur High School when I was a senior,” Harris said. “I mean, how crazy is that? I feel like everything is meant to be, and I go where the Lord tells me to go.”

In Year 5 in Lakeland, Florida, Harris has the 28-3 Moccasins primed for a deep postseason run as her squad enters Friday’s NCAA South Regional as the No. 1 seed. Florida Southern will host Lane College (Tennessee) in the tournament opener at 4 p.m. Friday, marking the first time in more than a decade that the school has hosted a regional basketball tournament.

Florida Southern enters Friday’s opener on an eight-game win streak. 

Harris arrived at Florida Southern in June 2014 following three seasons at the College of Coastal Georgia, a program she carried to a 68-27 record and an appearance in the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship tournament. 

Harris went 13-14 in her inaugural season in Lakeland, and in Year 2 enjoyed a 27-6 record that saw the Moccasins reach the NCAA Division II Elite Eight round. Florida Southern went 20-10  in her third season, and last year compiled a 25-5 record and appeared in the NCAA Division II tournament.

“The five years have gone by fast, but I’ll say it took a lot of hard work, patience, and like I tell the girls, ‘You have to go through the bad to get to the good, and if you can stay strong and make it through adversity, there’s always a bright light at the end of that tunnel,’” Harris said. 

While the wins, conference championships and trips to the postseason tournament are flattering, Harris said she’s received immense joy from seeing the evolution of her first recruiting class. 

Seniors Camille Giardina, of Sarasota, Florida, and Anja Fuchs-Robetin, of Vienna, Austria, were Harris’ first two recruits to sign with her, and both players have been instrumental in the Moccasins’ run over the last four years.

Giardina and Fuchs-Robetin have each accumulated more than 1,000 career points, and the duo has earned numerous conference awards and accolades.

Earlier this week, Fuchs-Robetin was selected as a second-team Academic All-American. Last year, she became the first player in program history to garner an academic All-American selection when she was named as a third-team member.

Giardina’s 19.9 points per game last season was a team-best, and through 31 games this year, she again leads the team and the Sunshine State Conference with 19.5 points per contest. In 2015-16, Giardina was named the Sunshine State Conference’s Freshman of the Year, and she’s posted double-digit scoring efforts in 20 consecutive games. 

“I’m just really proud of the two seniors I have in Anja and Camille,” Harris said. “Each one of them has gotten player of the year in our conference — one got it last year and one (Camille) got it this year. It’s pretty unique to have two kids like that on your team to build this program up the way they have.”

Harris received her own piece of hardware last week, as well, when she was named the Sunshine State Conference’s Coach of the Year. It was the second year in a row that she’s received the award and her third time in five seasons.

“It’s like I tell them, ‘When the team succeeds, that’s when individual awards come, the further you get into the tournament,’” Harris said. “If we can concentrate more on the team, everything else will fall into place, and that is exactly what’s happened for Anja and Camille.”

Earlier this year, Harris gathered with her former Crimson Tide teammates to celebrate their appearance in the Final Four at a 25th-anniversary reunion. The feelings of camaraderie and nostalgia she experienced during that January reunion are ones she hopes her Florida Southern players, especially her two seniors, are able to one day enjoy. Harris and the Moccasins will take the first step to achieve that Friday evening against Lane.

“I would love to see these kids accomplish something like that because I know how it feels,” Harris said. “Camille and Anja actually went to the Elite Eight as freshmen — they started on that team. So I would love to see them end their careers  (by) making it back to the Elite Eight, and of course, go further. It would be cool to see how they started as freshmen going to an Elite Eight, and I would love to see how they end their career here at Florida Southern.”