The celebrated Tall Ferns forward honed her basketball skills at Stanford University and then carved out a professional career in Italy.
In her last posting, she helped the Townsville Fire win the Australian title.
So Harmon is not short on experience, but the Goldrush and the New Zealand Women's Basketball Championship is new to her.
''I didn't know much about the WBC or anything like that because I've never played in it,'' she said.
''But one of my former [Tall Fern] team-mates, Aneka Kerr, had an email from the Goldrush and put me in contact. So it was kind of lucky that it worked out this way.''
Harmon (28) played alongside Otago's Suzie Bates at the 2008 Olympics, so had some inkling there was a team down this way. And when her partner, Todd Blanchfield, signed for the Southland Sharks this season, Harmon decided to ask around.
She had not met her new team-mates when the Otago Daily Times caught up with her for an interview, but she was looking forward to the format.
''I like how it is split over three different tournaments. Hopefully, that will give me time to get to know my team-mates better and get a good rhythm going with them and obviously try to win as many games as possible at the same time.''
The Goldrush opens its campaign against Te Tai Tokerau Phoenix at noon tomorrow and also plays the Waikato Wizards.
Waikato, runner-up for the last two years, is expected to be tough, but the ability of the Phoenix is a bit unknown. It is one of three new teams in the tournament this season.
The Goldrush plays the Taranaki Thunder in the late game on Saturday night and finishes with an early Sunday fixture against the Rotorua Lady Vols.
