Hobbled Harding's Electrifying Effort Falls Short

Facing again adversity that comes with injury and illness in a basketball season, the Harding Academy Generals came to play, intent on writing another great underdog story in sports lore.  Sharp shooting guard Abby McFarland of Providence Christian Academy had other plans.  The first quarter began in a high octane slug-fest between two heavyweights seeking to impose their will on each other the full length of the court.  After Harding solved PCA's man pressure in both the full court and half court over and over and built an early 9-8 lead, the visitors fell back into a 2-3 zone for the rest of the game.  As the frenetic pace and packed-in zone took their toll on the Generals, the home team gave up two critical 3-pointers to McFarland, coughed up the lead and fell behind 16-11 after one quarter.  In the second quarter, Harding cranked up the defensive pressure and aggression.  Gabby Land relentlessly attacked the boards, particularly the offensive boards, while her teammates swarmed the visitors over every square inch of the court.  However, the Generals faced a familiar foe - foul trouble - as two starters sat out the entire second quarter with 2 fouls, two more starters joined them in the final two minutes, and Land played out the quarter with 2 fouls.  Instead of falling behind, the energetic contributions of Reese Turner, Madeleine Merville and Anna Lindsley helped lift the  home team to a 20-17 lead late in the frame.  After holding PCA to a single free-throw for most of the quarter, Harding sent McFarland to the line too many times as she sunk four free-throws to help the visitors reclaim a 21-20 halftime lead.  As has too often been the case, the third quarter was not kind to the Generals with a combination of foul trouble and three 3-pointers from PCA - two from McFarland - buoying the visitors to a 38-26 lead heading into the final frame.  But Harding wasn't done.  With persistent full court pressure from Carly Frist, Grace Moore and Lindsey Parker, and relentless rebounding by Annelise Kyzer, Turner and Land, the Generals cut the lead to 6 points and 8 points on multiple occasions.  Unfortunately, as the parade of players marched to the Harding bench with 5 fouls, McFarland calmly walked to the line time and again going 5-of-8 in the critical waning minutes, which matched with her 3-point and 2-point field goals provided PCA all of their 10 fourth quarter points - enough to secure a hard-fought road win.  While McFarland led all scorers with an eye-popping 28 points, Carly Frist led the Generals in scoring with 12 points, followed by Kyzer with a career-high 10 points, and Turner with 6 points.  Parker, Land and Merville chipped in 2 points each, while Moore added 1 of 2 technical foul free-throws to round out the scoring.  The 2 points scored by Land does not accurately tell the story of her impact on the game as her infectious energy and effort spread like wildfire and was glaringly reflected in the energy and effort especially of her front court mates Parker, Turner and Kyzer.  While the Generals of Harding Academy (1-4, 1-2) are understandably disappointed in the record headed into exams and the Christmas break and anxious for the effort to translate into results on the scoreboard, there is an undeniable optimism and positive attitude toward improving every day, gelling as a team and building toward playing their best basketball in late January and early February.