In record-setting night, Marist’s Kate Harpring brings home second title
MACON - Kate Harpring completed one of the greatest girls basketball careers in Georgia high school history Thursday with a 40-point performance, a second state championship and a scoring record.
The Marist senior guard had 40 points, 16 rebounds and three assists to lead the top-ranked War Eagles to a 58-50 victory over No. 2 Kell in the Class 4A championship game at the Macon Coliseum.
It was the War Eagles’ second state title in Harpring’s four-year career and their third in five seasons overall. Marist was ranked No. 1 all season and finished 29-2, its only losses coming against Cookeville, ranked No. 6 overall in Tennessee, and Assumption, the No. 3 team in Kentucky.
“It’s amazing to do it with this great group of people,” Harpring said. “It’s so fulfilling. We’ve been working so hard for this moment, and we put everything into it. I’m just so happy.”
Harpring finished her high school career with 3,435 points, breaking the state record of 3,399 set by Athens Academy’s Jill Razor from 1994-1997.
Harpring, the daughter of former Georgia Tech and NBA player Matt Harpring, is the nation’s No. 1-rated senior, a McDonald’s All-American and one of five finalists for the Naismith High School Girls National Player of the Year Award. She has signed with the University of North Carolina.
“How much time do you have? She’s incredible,” Marist coach Kim Hixon said when asked what Harpring has meant to the program. “Her toughness defensively ... it’s not just offensively, you know what I’m saying? … It’s what she gives to us in rebounds too. I’m pretty sure her shoulder popped out tonight, and I was trying to get a timeout but she didn’t want to do that. It’s all about the team and what the team can do.
“We’ve just been so blessed to have her. She will be remembered for the rest of history at Marist.”
Harpring scored nine points in the first six minutes of the game as the War Eagles jumped out to an 11-0 lead.
Kell (25-6) battled back in the second quarter to pull within five points and took its only lead of the night with a 7-0 run to start the third quarter, surging ahead 28-26 on a 3-pointer by Lyric Watson less than two minutes into the half.
After a free throw by Harpring cut Kell’s lead back to 28-27, Emily Morrison scored seven of Marist’s next nine points for a 34-31 lead. A 3-pointer by Azelia Shell with 1:22 remaining in the third quarter made it 39-35, and Kell never had the ball with a chance to take the lead in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Harpring and Morrison combined for 53 of the War Eagles’ 58 points.
Asiah Thompson had 12 points to lead Kell, and Watson and Kennedy Deese scored 10 points each. Deese had 13 rebounds to lead Kell, which outrebounded Marist 35-28.
“This is my third one, but it is so, so special,” Hixon said. “It’s just the kids and how hard they worked. This was a tough one, extremely tough. Kell is such a great basketball team. They really put a lot of pressure on us, and we had to play great … [Harpring] did, and the rest of her teammates did too.”
Box score and stats
Marist - 15-11-14-18 - 58
Kell - 3-18-14-15 - 50
Marist (58): Katie Elder, Mary Julia Johnson, Izzy Patterson, Kate Harpring 40, Emily Morrison 13, Marya Trotman, Flynn Keppen, Azalea Shell 5, Megan Snipes.
Kell (50): Asiah Thompson 12, McKenzie Green 9, Lyric Watson 10, Maliyah Gilbert 2, Kennedy Deese 10, Daphne White 7, McKenzie Gurndy.
About the Author
Chip Saye rejoined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2025, at the launch of AJC Varsity. In 2009 he helped start Georgia High School Football Daily. He previously worked for the AJC, Athens Banner-Herald, Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail and Gwinnett Daily News.
