Harding Athletic Highlights - January 20, 2023

Jason Embry
Varsity Boys Basketball Goes 1-1 This Week
The Hawks traveled to take on the USN Tigers on Tuesday, January 17. This was a must needed win for the boys to keep their momentum after beating MBA last week. They had six players get into the scoring column. Quinn Taylor led the team in scoring with 15 points. Eli Russ added 7 points and Chase Embry 4 points. The defensive effort in the last three quarters sealed the win. The final score was 33-24 in favor of the Hawks.

On Wednesday, January 18 the Hawks hosted the Ensworth Tigers at the Robert's Gymnasium. The game was hard fought from the start. Both teams battled back and forth for the entire game. At the half, the Tigers led the Hawks 16-15. The boys answered the call in the third quarter and took a 21-18 lead going into the fourth quarter. Chase Embry controlled the tempo on offensive and led the charge on defense. He also added 5 points. Eli Russ pumped in 6 points and Quinn Taylor led all scorer's with 14 points. At the end of regulation, the score was tied 24-24. With :10 seconds to go in OT the Hawks drew up a play to get the win. However, the shot fell short and the boys came up empty handed. The final score was 27-25. It was a great game to witness and we are so proud of our team!

Boys Development Basketball - Navy Wins 25-20 in an Exciting Game
The third game of the season series was full of action and energy from both teams. Harding Navy was off to a hot start as they were able to get to the basket and make steals throughout the first half to be up 14-4 at halftime. Coming out of halftime, Harding White made a major come back to tie the game at 16-16. Going into the 4th quarter, Harding Navy was just too much for Harding white causing  turnovers and scoring a few late baskets to end the game. Harding Navy was led in scoring by Thomas Freeman with 19 points followed by Crawford Huber with 4 points and Jackson Swygert with 2 points. Harding White was led in scoring by Sebastian Muller and Wells Rick both scoring 10 points. Next week is the Fourth game of the series and will be just as intense as the last game.

Varsity Girls Basketball Highlights (January 16-20)
The Harding girls’ varsity basketball team opened the week as they traveled to USN for an afternoon matchup against the Tigers. The Hawks got off to a hot start, as Hilary Fremont ‘24 made a big three-point shot on their first offensive possession to gain some confidence. The Hawks played a full-court pressure defense the entire game, and it forced the Tigers to commit some turnovers leading to high-percentage, fastbreak opportunities for the Hawks. Margaux Brown ‘24 controlled the offense throughout the game from her point guard position, assisting on a number of baskets without committing a single turnover in the game! Seven different Hawks players scored in the game as it was a very balanced scoring attack; Hilary Fremont ‘24 led the team with seven points, Margie Clark ‘24 had six points, and Riley Schenk ‘24 had five points. This was a complete team effort from start to finish as the Hawks came out with a win by a final score of 29-22. 
The very next day, the Hawks hosted Ensworth for an afternoon matchup. The first half went back and forth as the Hawks played some quality defense, but struggled keeping the Tigers off the offensive glass resulting in many second chance points. At halftime, Ensworth held a slim lead 17-9. Louisa Smith ‘25 provided a spark with her defensive pressure, and led the team in scoring for the game. Unfortunately, the Hawks struggled to score consistently in the second half and fell by a final score of 35-14. The Hawks will look to get back on track with three games on the schedule next week, starting with a matchup Monday afternoon at Valor at 4:30pm. Go Hawks!

Girls Developmental Basketball
The girls developmental basketball team played two more inter-squad games this past week. In the first game the blue team came out victorious with a 13-9 win over white. Blythe Darden led the scoring with 4 points for team blue while Jamie Gaddie Embry kept the white team close scoring 5 points. 

In the second game of the week, blue continued their winning streak with a 16-6 win over white. Grace Thigpen and Kenzie Lack scored 6 points a piece while Serena Sluyters and Addy Heffernan each added a basket to lead the blue team to victory. Jamie Gaddie Embry scored all 6 points for the white team. The Hawks are back in action on January 23rd at 5:30.
Back
Inspiring The Mind  •  Nurturing The Spirit