Kristi Harrower

Kristi Harrower (born 4 March 1975 ) is an Australian professional basketball coach and former player. She was a decorated player with the Australian Opals, winning three silver medals and one bronze medal at four Summer Olympics. She played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1998 to 2005 for the Phoenix Mercury and Minnesota Lynx.

Early life
Harrower hometown is Bendigo.

Early years and profile
Harrower played as a point guard was listed as 163 cm and 139 lbs.

Harrower attended the Australian Institute of Sport on a scholarship in 1992 and 1993. At the 1994 Australian Under-20 national championships, Harrower won the Bob Staunton Award.

Professional
Harrower played professional basketball for over twenty years.

WNBA
Harrower entered the WNBA as an undrafted player. Her first team she played with was the Phoenix Mercury, whom she signed with before the start of the 1998 season. In her two seasons with the team, she played in 62 games. She joined the Minnesota Lynx in 2000 along with Mercury players Marlies Askamp and Angela Aycock as part of a trade that saw Tonya Edwards and Trisha Fallon go from Minnesota to Phoenix. She played for the Lynx in 2003, where she averaged 2.8 points and 2.3 assists per game. She ended her Lynx career in 2005 having played 96 games while averaging of 3.8 ppg, 2.4 apg and 1.8 rpg.

In 2009, Harrower was playing for the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA. She missed three games that season in order to attend her grandmother's funeral in Australia.

WNBL
Harrower's 18-year WNBL career began in 1991. After 10 years in the league, she was absent for seven years (2001–2007) before returning in 2008 and continued until retirement. Harrower was league MVP once (2009–10) and was selected seven times for the WNBL All-Star Five. She played on championship teams in 1994 with the Adelaide Lightning, and 2012–13 and 2013–14 with the Bendigo Spirit. In 2013, she was the WNBL Defensive Player of the Year.

Harrower played for the Bendigo Spirit in the 2008–09 season and the 2009–10 season, where she was the WNBL's MVP. She resigned with the Spirit in October 2009. With the Spirit in the 2010–11 season, she had a three-point shooting percentage of 23%. She played injured most of the season, with problems in her shoulder and knee. She averaged 13.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. She was the team's general manager that year. She again played for the Spirit in 2011–12. Her father, Bernie Harrower, was the team's coach. In January 2012, she made a clutch shot for her team that helped them beat Canberra. Harrower led the Spirit to league titles in 2013 and 2014. For the 2014–15 season, Harrower became an assistant coach for the Bendigo Spirit, but also returned as a player after injuries to guard Kelly Wilson prevented her from playing in the first part of the season.

On 7 January 2015, Harrower announced her retirement from the WNBL, also stating that she was 16 weeks pregnant.

Europe
In 2006, Harrower played for Valenciennes in France.

National team
Harrower was a member of the Australia women's national basketball team and has been described as the national team's pocket dynamo. She was a member of the 1998 Australian Senior Women's Team that won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Germany. She was a member of the 1999 Australian senior women's team.

She was a member of the 2000 Summer Olympics team that won a silver medal. Going into the Olympics, her team was ranked third in the world. In 2002, she was a member of the Australian Senior Women's Team that won a silver medal in the World Championships in Spain. She was a member of the Australian senior team that won a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She played in eight games at the 2004 Games, where she averaged 8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.

Harrower was a member of the 2005 Opals. In 2006, she was a member of the Australian women's senior team that won a gold medal at the World Championships in Brazil. In March 2007, she was named to the national team what would prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In 2008, she did not participate in the Good Luck Beijing 2008 held in China in the lead up to the Olympics because of a commitment to her European club. She was a member of the 2008 Summer Olympics Australian women's team that won a silver medal at the Olympics.

In June 2010, Harrower was viewed by national team coach Carrie Graf as one of a quartet of strong players that would represent Australia in a tour of China, the United States and Europe in the next few months. In July 2010, she participated in a four-day training camp and one game test match against the United States in Connecticut. In 2010, she participated in the Salamanca Invitational Basketball Tournament in Spain. Her team beat Spain 85–64. They also beat the United States. She missed the game against Spain because she injured her ankle. In 2010, she was a member of the senior women's national team that competed at the World Championships in the Czech Republic. She missed a three-game test series against China in Queensland in July 2011 because of an injury. In July 2011, she participated in the Olympic qualification competition. She was returning to the team following an injury.

Harrower was named to the 2012 Australia women's national basketball team. In February 2012, she was named to a short list of 24 eligible players to represent Australia at the Olympics. She was scheduled to participate in the national team training camp held from 14 to 18 May 2012 at the Australian Institute of Sport. She made the 2012 Olympic Squad cut down to 14 players, and won the bronze medal.

NBL1
In December 2018, Harrower joined the Diamond Valley Eagles women's team as an assistant coach for the inaugural season of the NBL1 in 2019.

In May 2019, Harrower left the Eagles to take up the position of head coach of the Melbourne Tigers women's team for the final 10 games of the NBL1 season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she was unable to coach the Tigers in 2020 and subsequently stepped down as coach prior to the 2021 season.

In 2024, Harrower served as head coach of the Keilor Thunder women's team in the NBL1 South.

WNBL
In July 2022, Harrower was appointed an assistant coach of the Melbourne Boomers ahead of the 2022–23 WNBL season. She continued as Boomers assistant in 2023–24.

In June 2024, Harrower was appointed head coach of the Southside Flyers ahead of the 2024–25 WNBL season.

National team
Harrower served as an assistant coach of the Australian Opals at the 2023 FIBA Asia Cup.

Regular season

 * align="left" | 1998
 * align="left" | Phoenix
 * 30 || 0 || 11.8 || .365 || .344 || .750 || 0.7 || 1.7 || 0.5 || 0.1 || 1.0 || 2.3
 * align="left" | 1999
 * align="left" | Phoenix
 * 32 || 3 || 20.8 || .364 || .279 || .808 || 2.0 || 3.0 || 0.8 || 0.1 || 1.4 || 4.5
 * align="left" | 2001
 * align="left" | Minnesota
 * 4 || 1 || 18.0 || .467 || .500 || 1.000 || 1.0 || 2.8 || 0.8 || 0.0 || 0.8 || 5.3
 * align="left" | 2002
 * align="left" | Minnesota
 * 27 || 6 || 17.8 || .389 || .333 || .400 || 1.7 || 2.0 || 0.4 || 0.0 || 1.0 || 3.6
 * align="left" | 2003
 * align="left" | Minnesota
 * 31 || 0 || 16.1 || .368 || .372 || .615 || 1.3 || 2.3 || 0.6 || 0.1 || 1.3 || 2.8
 * align="left" | 2005
 * align="left" | Minnesota
 * 34 || 34 || 24.5 || .351 || .324 || .778 || 2.4 || 2.8 || 1.1 || 0.0 || 1.6 || 4.6
 * align="left" | 2009
 * align="left" | Los Angeles
 * 31 || 26 || 16.8 || .360 || .205 || .818 || 1.8 || 2.2 || 0.5 || 0.0 || 0.9 || 3.1
 * align="left" | Career
 * align="left" | 7 years, 3 teams
 * 189 || 70 || 18.1 || .367 || .316 || .760 || 1.7 || 2.4 || 0.7 || 0.1 || 1.2 || 3.6
 * align="left" | 2009
 * align="left" | Los Angeles
 * 31 || 26 || 16.8 || .360 || .205 || .818 || 1.8 || 2.2 || 0.5 || 0.0 || 0.9 || 3.1
 * align="left" | Career
 * align="left" | 7 years, 3 teams
 * 189 || 70 || 18.1 || .367 || .316 || .760 || 1.7 || 2.4 || 0.7 || 0.1 || 1.2 || 3.6
 * align="left" | 7 years, 3 teams
 * 189 || 70 || 18.1 || .367 || .316 || .760 || 1.7 || 2.4 || 0.7 || 0.1 || 1.2 || 3.6

Playoffs

 * align="left" | 1998
 * align="left" | Phoenix
 * 6 || 0 || 13.0 || .600 || .429 || .000 || 1.0 || 1.2 || 0.8 || 0.2 || 0.7 || 4.5
 * align="left" | 2003
 * align="left" | Minnesota
 * 3 || 0 || 21.7 || .364 || .286 || .500 || 2.3 || 1.7 || 0.3 || 0.0 || 1.0 || 3.7
 * align="left" | 2009
 * align="left" | Los Angeles
 * 5 || 2 || 11.8 || .500 || .333 || .000 || 0.2 || 2.2 || 0.4 || 0.0 || 0.8 || 2.6
 * align="left" | Career
 * align="left" | 3 years, 3 teams
 * 14 || 2 || 14.4 || .512 || .353 || .500 || 1.0 || 1.6 || 0.6 || 0.1 || 0.8 || 3.6
 * align="left" | Career
 * align="left" | 3 years, 3 teams
 * 14 || 2 || 14.4 || .512 || .353 || .500 || 1.0 || 1.6 || 0.6 || 0.1 || 0.8 || 3.6
 * 14 || 2 || 14.4 || .512 || .353 || .500 || 1.0 || 1.6 || 0.6 || 0.1 || 0.8 || 3.6