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Harden Leads Miami in Senior Day Win Over Virginia

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Photo Credit: Miami Athletics

Seven Hurricanes celebrated Senior Day before Miami’s game against Virginia on Sunday, so it was fitting that sixth-year forward Destiny Harden led the Hurricanes to their 85-74 win.

Harden, sporting tape on her wrist commemorating her late grandmother, totaled her fourth double-double of the season, ending with a team-high 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds in her last game at the Watsco Center.

“It was pretty emotional just because I had my family with me, some of them being their first game at the Watsco and then being my last game at the Watsco, so it’s pretty emotional,” Harden said. “Just a bittersweet moment playing in the Watsco for the last time.”

Through transferring schools and dealing with injuries, Harden has experienced her share of adversity throughout her collegiate career and has displayed the resiliency that head coach Katie Meier says every player of Miami’s 2023 senior class has shown.

“Each one of them had their own journey, has their own story … these are really special young people,” Meier said. “In every single one of their cards that I wrote, the word ‘resilient’ comes up … It is incredible what some of these athletes have gone through and people don’t understand.”

Complementing Harden in Miami’s frontcourt, first-year forward Kyla Oldacre was unstoppable, as her 6-foot-6 size anchored the Hurricanes’ paint on both ends of the floor. 

Oldacre finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, both of which are career highs for the former McDonald’s All-American. 

The Hurricanes went on a 16-2 run when Oldacre subbed into the game at the 7:31 mark of the first quarter. This run gave UM a nine-point lead that it held onto for the remainder of the game.

Seniors Hanna and Haley Cavinder paced UM’s guard play. Hanna made a trio of 3-pointers in the first half, as Miami headed into the break with a 40-30 lead.

Hanna scored a season-high 15 points and knocked down five of UM’s seven shots from behind the arc. Haley recorded 11 points but left a greater impact on the game as a distributor. She finished with five of Miami’s 26 assists, which is the most the team has had in a game since 2018. Veteran guard Karla Erjavec led this impressive display of ball movement, dishing out a season-high seven assists.

“We knew we had to move the ball today coming off the Louisville game,” Harden said. “We knew we had to … play as a team and share the ball and it was a lot of wide-open shots.”

The Cavaliers (15-14, 4-14 ACC), despite having only six active players, continued fighting in the second half. They cut Miami’s lead to as little as six midway through the third quarter but were unable to trim it any further.

UM went on an 8-2 run in the fourth quarter to extend its lead to 15, cementing a crucial win with postseason play approaching.

Miami (18-11, 11-7 ACC) improved to sixth place in the conference standings and will play on Thursday at 8 p.m. in the ACC Tournament against the winner of the 11th and 14th seed game.

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