Staff photo / Brian Yauger Warren G. Harding senior Jaleah Provitt pushes her way to the basket past Massillon Perry’s Makenna Knop during Wednesday’s game in Warren.

WARREN — While going into the locker room at halftime trailing by a point, Warren G. Harding couldn’t continue their defensive success into the third. Massillon Perry pulled away in the second half, downing the Raiders 52-38 in a Division II, Northeast 1 District semifinal on Wednesday.

“We said we had to keep them off the 3-point line,” Harding coach Frank Caputo said. “We knew this was a pretty evenly matched-up game. They’re very physical, and they wore us down a little bit there in the third. They made some big moments, and we didn’t come back and get any of ours back, like we did in the second.”

The Panthers were able to pull away with a combo of defensive intensity and long-range shooting. Harding had one of those aspects, matching Perry’s intensity, but didn’t have that offensive counterpunch needed.

“They stepped up defensively, and we just gave up the deep shot,” Caputo said. “We needed to rebound the ball a little bit better, and that’s something we’ve been very good at this year. We just, for some reason, couldn’t find it tonight.”

Senior Akeelha Barnes led the Raiders with 12 points. Lila Kleve paced Perry with 18.

Harding’s season comes to a close with a 14-7 record.

“They came together as a whole,” Caputo said of the 2025-26 campaign. “They played hard together. They care for each other, and you know that lifelong memories they’re gonna have forever.”

The Raiders graduate a class of four seniors: Barnes, Jaleah Provitt, Trinity Taylor and Cayden Reed. The four have left an impact on the Harding program and have laid a foundation for the returning talent to build on in the coming years.

“They were great senior leaders, and they really built all the way from freshman year all the way up,” Caputo said. “They really showed these girls that are younger than them exactly what they need to be doing if they want to be something special.”

For the girls coming back, the goal is simple: find something about your game that’s lacking and improve it.

“Put in some work,” Caputo said. “Find those things you didn’t do through the summer months and through the offseason, even during the season, that you need to change and work on them. Let’s just go and get better.”

Perry advanced to the Division II, Northeast 1 District finals, where it will take on sixth-seeded Painesville Riverside on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.