When most fathers volunteer to set aside some time when they get home from work to help their daughters work on their shooting, it’s no big deal. It’s different for Marist’s Kate Harpring.
Her dad is Matt Harpring, who was an All-American at Georgia Tech and spent 11 seasons in the NBA. He knows a thing or two about what it takes to reach the next level. So, when he offers to go to the gym and rebound — or toss out an occasional tip — it pays to listen.
“Yeah, a lot of time my dad and my brother will rebound for me while I shoot,” she said. “My father has always been very supportive. Our family is very close, and we’ve always done a lot of things together.”
And Kate has benefited from the influencers in her life, whether that’s her father, who also played basketball at Marist and shared 1994 Mr. Basketball honors in Georgia with Shareef Abdur-Rahim, or her mother, Amanda, who is a doctor. Kate is the second in line among five children.
More than anything she’s inherited the competitive gene.
“I’m telling you, her DNA is different,” Marist coach Kim Hixon said. “Being a Harpring, they all work hard. She works super hard. Nobody is going to outwork her. She doesn’t let it all go to her head.”
Harpring was born in Utah while her father was playing in the NBA for the Jazz and eventually found her way to Marist when the family returned to Atlanta. She recognized that she had athletic ability when she was young. Hixon first saw her as a fifth grader.
“She started playing in our feeder program, so she was just a little baby,” Hixon said. “I’ve seen her grow up with us and start playing here. She’s just tough, intense, physical, competitive. … There’s so many great words about her. And she goes hard every second she’s on the floor. She’s a great teammate.”
Her influence has been indisputable.
Marist reached the state championship game during Harpring’s freshman year and lost badly to River Ridge in the final.
That setback served as motivation for 2023-24 when the War Eagles won their second state championship in three seasons. River Ridge, ranked No. 1, was again the biggest obstacle and the two teams met in the semifinals. Harpring scored 45 points and helped Marist erase a 12-point deficit over the final three minutes and eventually won 72-69 in overtime.
“She just willed us to win that game,” Hixon said. “The moment she missed a free throw, got her own rebound and put it back up, that’s when I knew we were going to upset them. That’s the moment I realized just how tough she is. That extra effort, just as exhausted as she was, that was a special moment for me.”
By comparison, the Class 6A championship game, a 67-48 win over North Paulding, was a cakewalk.
Basketball wasn’t an automatic choice for Harpring, who played five sports until she was in the ninth grade. She was equally fond — and just about as good — at soccer, but opted to give it up since the travel was more demanding and didn’t fit as easily as did basketball.
She still plays tennis and is a two-time state champion. Harpring plays No. 1 singles for the War Eagles.
“I love being part of team sport and having teammates you can bond with,” she said. “So basketball is my team sport, and tennis is my individual sport.”
But for the next month the focus will remain on basketball. The War Eagles, ranked No. 2 in Class 4A, are 20-2 — losing to Class 6A No. 1 North Paulding 59-56 in a title-game rematch and Class 6A No. 4 Cherokee. Marist will clinch the Region 5-5A if it defeats Northview on Wednesday.
A 5-foot-10 junior, she is one of the state’s top guard prospects — she earned a 5-star rating from 247Sports — and has received scholarship offers from most of the top programs in the country. The first offer came from Tech, and others have continued to pour in from places such as Connecticut, Tennessee, Iowa, LSU, Alabama and Georgia. Harpring said he’s trying to enjoy the journey and will continue to take visits and see where the road takes her.
“I’ve had some really special ones over here, but she’s just one of those once-in-a-lifetime kids,” Hixon said.
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