Harding wins battle of the Wildcat teams

“Let’s talk about rebounds and defense, because we haven’t talked about anything else all week,” Lady Wildcats coach Rusty Garner said. “Episcopal is really good defensively, and they rebound exceptionally well. We told our girls that maybe we are the one team made up to respond to those things. Our toughness was off the chart tonight, our rebounding was excellent. Defensively, we competed, really in every way.

“McKenney Sheffield is always going to have a good night when the opportunity presents itself. We feel like we always have five good options on the court, it’s just a matter of finding what they are taking and go the other way.”

Cold shooting hampered both teams in the first half as the battle of the Wildcats ended in a 18-18 draw at the half. The third quarter also started slow before Sheffield got things going with a three-point basket at the 5:24 mark to give Harding a 22-18 lead. Sheffield then closed out the period with a pair of free throws, followed by an inside basket just before the end of the third to give Harding Academy a 31-24 lead.

Junior Jamanno Akpanudo stretched the advantage to double digits for Harding Academy early in the fourth quarter with a three pointer before Sheffield hit once again from beyond the arc and then converted another defensive rebound into an and-one with 4:04 left to play, giving HA a 41-24 lead. Episcopal’s problems began to compound at that point as the first of two starters fouled out of the game on the play.

“Our plan was that we had to be really aggressive offensively,” Garner said. “They will bully you, they will push you around, and you have to go attack. I credit my kids 100 percent with that – they decided to go attack. We’ve got physical in us, but it hasn’t always been the case.”

Harding continued to chip away at the Episcopal defense late as senior forward Eva Abraham converted an and-one to give the hosts a 44-26 lead with 2:33 remaining. With the game all but in hand, HA began to slow the pace as senior Calle Citty and Akpanudo knocked down the final points in the last minute.

Sheffield and Citty both finished with double-double performances, Sheffield with 15 points and 11 rebounds, Citty with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

“We talked about it today, if McKenney has 13 points, we win,” Garner said. “And she had 15. That was the conversation – McKenney will be the X-factor today. Calle Citty had 12, which is about as hard a 12 as you can get. Eva Abraham had 3, but it was a huge and-one on a rebound. Jamanno Akpanudo has 8, six of those when they weren’t guarding her to make her go score. Kloey Fullerton had 8, and those were also all in situations.”

HA Boys

The Harding Academy Wildcats senior boys were not as fortunate as they ran into a sharp-shooting Episcopal team which quickly rushed out to a 20-point advantage in the first half on the way to a 76-33 victory in the second varsity matchup of the night Friday. The HA Wildcats are now 4-6 overall and 3-3 in the 3A-6 Conference. Episcopal improved to 14-5 overall and 5-1 in Conference, tied with league-leading Rose Bud.

The Wildcats boys and girls teams will host Lisa Academy North tonight and will travel to Rose Bud on Friday to take on the Ramblers.