Rebecca Harris learned the game of basketball watching her father officiating at an Air Force base in a foreign country.

She learned to referee games, too – just to help her dad out. Around the court, Johnnie Harris often let his little daughter play with the basketball.

With her father in the military, Harris has lived on three continents.

Harris spent her early years in the Philippines before moving with her family to Japan. After three years in Japan, the Harrises moved to Germany. While she has fond memories of each place, her favorite was Japan.

She can still taste the savory wontons and sushi, and she loved Japanese animation. She often thinks of her brother, Jay Omar Scott Harris, stationed at Yokota Air Force Base in Japan.

Harris fondly recalls traveling to different military bases with her father and watching him referee her passion, basketball. During halftimes and timeouts, Harris often was the only kid who roamed the court.

It wasn’t until the eighth grade that Harris’ family settled in Illinois.

In the United States, Harris noticed several cultural differences in her surroundings.

“I found that living oversees, people on the street are much different,” Harris said. “You can walk and talk with everyone just in a friendly manner, rather than in the streets here. Everyone is more independent, more of an individual.”

Harris laughed as she reminisced about all the times she has moved and said being in the state of Illinois is becoming boring.

But at the beginning of the 2006 basketball season, things weren’t so boring for the junior, and she had to make one of the hardest transitions of her life – transferring from junior college to a Division I basketball program. Since making the move, the 5-foot-8 Harris has become an important member of the Illini women’s basketball team.

As a senior in high school, Harris said she had offers from Illinois State, Dayton, Toledo and several other Ohio and Illinois schools (but not Ohio State or Illinois). She was overwhelmed by Division I offers, but her final decision was to attend Rend Lake College, a junior college in Ina, Ill.

“I was fixated at the time on maybe going to a certain area,” Harris said. “(I) wanted to play in the ACC. The letters I was getting didn’t appeal to me.”

Consequently, Harris became the star of stars, the toast of Ina, the joy of a town that is smaller than some high schools.

“I liked when I saw (Harris) play,” Illinois head coach Theresa Grentz said. “She had a different role on her team. She had to do everything for her team. It was not uncommon for her to score 30 points in one night.”

Harris handled the ball, distributed it, created her own shots and led her team to a 19-12 record as a freshman. For the 2005-06 campaign, Harris was the third-highest scorer in the U.S., averaging 23.6 points per game. She was ninth in the nation in assists, dishing out 5.6 a game.

Everything is different now – Harris averaged 6.2 points during the 2006-07 regular season.

“It was difficult for her at first,” said Audrey Tabon, a 6-foot-2 forward/center who is missing the season due to injury. “But she’s definitely adjusting now.”

Tabon has helped make the transition and transfer easy for Harris.

“She had to learn how to be a floor general and see the floor versus just being a scorer,” Tabon said. “She’s definitely a special player.”

For that reason, Harris was the first in six years – since Yolanda Smith in 2000 – to change schools to join the Illini. Assistant coach Blaine Patterson pointed Harris out to Grentz.

“I thought we really needed some help in the backcourt,” Grentz said.

Harris has helped out Illinois in more places than just the backcourt. Teammates and coaches agree that she is the spark off the bench, or a spark in general.

Grentz added that Harris has an “effervescent” personality. Tabon backed up the statement by telling stories of Harris pulling out a Jamaican accent.

“We don’t know where it came from, but that’s Bec,” Tabon said.

With all the present glee, things were not easy at the beginning. Harris had to get to know the program, mesh with her teammates and simply build relationships from the ground up.

“(I) just got to know people as individuals,” Harris said. “You get close to people.”

Despite being close with coaches and teammates, Harris had to accept a bench role this year. And, for the Big Ten tournament and perhaps into the NCAA Tournament, Grentz said Harris is an integral part of the team and necessary for success. When Tabon returns next season, she hopes Harris plays well.

“I expect (Harris) to do some amazing things next year and give the ball to me when I’m down in the post,” Tabon said jokingly.

Tabon believes that Harris’ amazing scoring ability, quickness and ball-handling will only improve with time. Harris’ focus, though, is on the game she is about to play.

“I try and do the best I can when I get the opportunity, so there’s always room for improvement and always room to try and move up,” Harris said. “I have hopes to do so.”

While she is improving her game, Harris never forgets about her brother overseas, who she hopes to visit this summer. She looks forward to smelling the new air and feeling the unique vibe of a different country.

No matter what situation Harris finds herself in, whether she is interacting with strangers, smiling or breaking ankles with her crossovers, she strives for first-rate results.

“She plays hard,” Grentz said. “I’m trying to recall a practice, a time, when I didn’t think she was hustling. She always is giving her best, and I like that. I think that her teammates come to know that they can count on that.”

They can count on Harris staying to play basketball with them for another year, too.