Harding Varsity Girls Defeat Christ the King School 37-29

The Generals started off strong, sprinting out to a 8-2 lead before the visitors began burning timeouts. Carly Frist converted two steals into buckets, while Grace Moore converted an old-fashioned three-point play off of a steal. Riley Jones then went on a tear scoring 6 points. Add a basket inside by Annelise Kyzer, and Harding took a 15-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter featured extremely physical play from both squads, which slowed the pace of play down, but the Generals still managed to extend their lead to 21 to 12 at the break. In the third quarter, Jones and Kyzer went back to work in the paint, combining for 8 points on offense while throwing a block party at the other end, rejecting the visitors' shots time and time again. Moore and Carly Frist each added a bucket in the quarter to give the home team a 33-18 lead heading into the final frame. Hoping to conserve some energy, Harding looked to protect the lead and run time off the clock, but the Raiders valiantly sought to make a desperate fourth quarter comeback, hitting a 3-pointer and using physical play on baseline inbound passes to score. However, the visitors could never seem to get the lead below double digits until the waning seconds, as Kyzer got a timely basket inside, and Carly Frist hit two free-throws late to seal the 37-29 victory. Jones led all scorers with 15 points, followed by Carly Frist with 8 points and Kyzer with 7 points. Moore chipped in 5 points, and Mary Haley tallied 2 points to round out the scoring for the Generals. More than her point total, Moore's greatest contribution may have been in drawing the defensive assignment to shut down the Raiders' leading scorer, who was held to 0 points in the game. Harding Academy (8-5, 6-3 TIAA) will next host conference foe and East Division leading Donelson Christian Academy in the Generals' third game in three days on Thursday.