WARSAW – Michelle Harter has given so much back to so many in the sport she loves.

That sport, basketball, will give back this weekend in a very appropriate way to her.

Harter, the WCHS girls basketball coach, will be inducted into the Huntington University Hall of Fame.

The former Wawasee High School standout will be honored for her outstanding collegiate career for the Foresters from 1986-90.

“I’m very honored,” said the soft-spoke Harter. “It’s definitely not something that I was expecting. It’s a humbling experience to think that I was a player deserving of an honor like this.”

Harter put up an impressive set of career statistics as a 5-10 center for the Foresters. She scored 1,693 career points, which still ranks sixth all-time in program history. Harter also had 945 rebounds, which is second all-time for the Foresters. Her top rebounding performance of 21 caroms in a game is still a school record.

“The biggest thing for me as a player in college was to be prepared, both physically and mentally, every time I stepped on the floor,” Harter said. “Just making sure that I was ready to play every night.”

“I had great learning experience at Huntington and grew as a player, but more importantly as a person. It was about building relationships with teammates. I would not have been successful without them.”

Harter was a team MVP three times in college and a three-time NCCAA All-American. She also earned all-conference honors all four years as the Foresters, under coach Lori Culler, won four league championships and made four trips to the NCCAA National Tournament.

“I was a very physical and a very competitive player,” noted Harter, who helped lead Wawasee to a state runner-up finish in 1985. “I had to study the game and learn how to score against bigger players since I was undersized at center. I took great pride in what I was doing to make our team successful.”

Harter, who teaches health and physical education at WCHS, is 118-66 in her ninth season as head coach of the girls program. She is is her 26th year overall at WCHS and was a longtime assistant coach before taking over the program in 2008. Harter has won a pair of sectional championships and her 2012-13 team reached the Final Four in Class 4-A.

Harter will be honored at a luncheon at Huntington University on Saturday. She will be recognized, along with Cory Powell (golf), Ryan Thwaits (men’s basketball) and the 1999 men’s cross country team, at halftime of the Huntington men’s basketball game Saturday.

“Basketball has always been my true love and my passion,” commented Harter. “My experiences in high school and college as a player made me want to give back. I got so much from the sport.”