PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kate Harpring made the most of her first trip to Philadelphia.
The sensational North Carolina freshman scored 30 points to help No. 23 North Carolina beat Penn 71-60 on Saturday.
A day earlier she got to run up the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps in ode to the movie “Rocky” in honor of her dad Matt, who played for the 76ers 25 years ago. Rocky is his favorite movie. He couldn't be at the game Saturday as he was watching her brother
play football for Florida.
Harpring made sure to send him a picture of her going up the steps with the Rocky statue.
“He couldn’t make it because my family is all over the place,” Harpring said. “It's literally my dad's favorite movie and we watched it along with all the others.”
Harpring was no underdog coming out of high school. She was the No. 4 rated recruit. It was the first 30-point game by a freshman since Janelle Bailey did it in 2018. Diamond DeShields holds the freshman record with 38 points in a game.
“She’s wired in a way, there's a competitiveness to Kate,” North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. “If she had 40 and we lost she wouldn’t be happy. She's really a special talent. She can keep getting better. She's one of the special ones, what she's doing and how little she's played college basketball."
This was Harpring's first true road game as the Tar Heels (2-2) started the season in Paris and then played in the Charlotte Hornets arena against No. 1 South Carolina. A home game against North Carolina Central preceded the Penn game, which drew 2,714 fans — the biggest ever to see a women's game for the Quakers.
“I sat with Mike (McLaughlin) in Atlantic City and we were recruiting and said how can we make this game happen. Let's try to get the record,” Banghart said. “Our crowd showed out and so did his.”
This is the 100th anniversary of the Palestra — the home for Penn. Banghart, who spent 12 years at Princeton before going to North Carolina, was happy to play again at the Palestra in this historic year.
Harpring finished off her Philadelphia experience the only way that would be fitting — with her first cheesesteak. Banghart wouldn't say where it was from so as not to offend all the great choices for the delicacy in the city.
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