UNC signee Harpring, the nation’s No. 1 prospect, named AJC player of the year

Harpring ended her Marist career with 3,435 points, over 1,000 rebounds and roughly 600 steals, according to War Eagle coach Kim Hixon. Perhaps more importantly, she only lost six times in four seasons and never lost at home after her freshman year.

“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,” Hixon said after the state championship. “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.”

Four days after she broke the scoring record and won her second championship, Harpring won the Naismith Award, given to the top high school basketball player in the country.

Harpring was told the scoring record was within reach last summer. But she was focused on bigger things at the time — like deciding between blue-blood college basketball programs like UConn, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.

“I really didn’t think too much of (the record), honestly,” Harpring said. “I’m just going out there just to play and be myself. I’m not really going out there trying to score the most points.

“I’m just doing what my team needs, really just to win. Sometimes, that comes with me scoring a lot of points. Sometimes, it doesn’t, depending on the game.”

Harpring attributed her focused perspective to her upbringing. Her father Matt Harpring was also a former Marist basketball player who went on to start for Georgia Tech and play 11 seasons in the NBA. Her mother, Amanda Harpring, swam at Cornell University, and her older brother, Luke Harpring, is a sophomore tight end for the University of Florida’s football team.

Matt Harpring was also the AJC’s all-classification player of the year in 1994.

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Matt Harpring could see elite athleticism in Kate from a young age. He just didn’t know what sport she would choose for years.

Kate played baseball with the boys — a standout pitcher and shortstop — and she played soccer, tennis and basketball. Matt figured soccer was Kate’s favorite sport, but the travel was too much for the seven-person Harpring family.

Kate narrowed her focus to basketball and tennis by late middle school. She started playing basketball at Marist in seventh grade and immediately stood out enough to practice with the varsity team.

Marist coach Hixon remembered the first time that Kate proved she could play varsity basketball years before she was eligible to.

“She came in, and she was probably one of, if not the best player on the team in seventh grade,” Hixon said. “Her skills were so good, and she was stretching out then, and right then, we were like, ‘We’ve got to have her.’”

Hixon said Harpring spent the next two seasons helping the varsity team in practice by playing as “the best player on the other team.” In 2022, Harpring’s eighth-grade year, she helped Marist win its first state title without scoring a point.

“If they had a shooter, (Coach Hixon) would be like, ‘Shoot it whenever you’re open,’ and there were a couple practices when I was just making shots,” Harpring said. “It’s just funny memories from being young on the team and stuff, kind of being that big person on the other team and knowing that I had a big role to help prepare the team to win.

“That was cool to be that person for a team that won a state championship that year.”

Through those practices, Harpring also proved to herself that she could dominate one day as a varsity player.

St. Pius coach Kevin Moore was an assistant coach at Marist when Harpring started practicing with the team in middle school. When he left Marist for St. Pius last season, he knew stopping Harpring would be one of his toughest tasks.

Really, he only hoped to slow her down.

St. Pius played Marist twice last season. Harpring shredded the Golden Lions in the first game, a 55-21 win. Moore hoped to get a better shot at his former superstar in the second game.

“Game two, we came out with a game plan where it was just anytime you possibly could, try to get the ball out of Kate’s hands,” Moore said.

Marist only led 25-20 at halftime, but Harpring broke through in the second half. She finished with 38 points and led Marist past St. Pius again, 58-40.

“I told the girls after the game that we followed the game plan and we did everything that we possibly could, but at the end of the day, Kate Harpring is Kate Harpring,” Moore said. “In transition, she’s maybe one of the best players I’ve ever coached against, and that’s including all of the boys teams I coached against.”

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

One of Harpring’s toughest challenges in her basketball career was navigating the recruiting process. College coaches were constantly contacting the Harpring family for three years.

A good problem to have, but a problem, nonetheless.

“If you let it, you could have coaches calling you at every hour, all the time, but you’ve kind of got to be a kid, and that’s hard,” Matt Harpring said. “You’d come back from school, and you’d have homework, and you’d be like, ‘Oh, well, I’m supposed to talk to six coaches tonight.’

“It’s like, ‘Well, no, you’re not. You’re going to talk to two, and they can hold off.’”

Kate enjoyed parts of the recruiting process, but stress continued to mount as she approached her final decision. She didn’t want to rush it, though — Kate used several charts to evaluate each aspect of the schools she was interested in.

She also leaned on her dad. Matt advised Kate to choose her school based on one key factor, assuming the program had good academics and opportunities to compete for national championships.

“Head coach. Who can you imagine, off the court, talking to?” Matt Harpring said. “Because mom and dad aren’t going to be there anymore, so you have need to have someone that you trust and that you get along with.

“I’m not saying you have to be buddy-buddy, but I had a guy in Bobby Cremins at Georgia Tech that I still talk to to this day. And I would love that type of relationship with Katie and her coach.”

Kate Harpring ultimately signed with North Carolina, becoming the highest-rated signee in Tar Heel history.

The signing is also a great accomplishment for Marist. Hixon believes Harpring’s impact will continue to make her program better for years to come.

“You can’t point at her for years on end and go, ‘Oh, she just scored the ball,’” Hixon said. “She did, but she’s our leading rebounder, our leader in steals and probably leading in assists, so she did it all.

“In future ... I think I can sit there and go, ‘I demanded this of (Kate), and she demanded this of herself. I’m going to demand this of you.’”