The Warren G. Harding Raiders girls basketball team participated in the Tampa, Florida Christmas Invitational where they went 2-1 and used that bonding to keep up their consistent play in the new year as they got past the Canfield Cardinals Wednesday night, 49-38.

“I’m real happy with where we’re at right now,” Harding coach Frank Caputo said. “I thought our preseason was great. I think we got stagnant around game four or five, but then taking the trip and coming back; the bonding is really going to benefit us down the stretch.”

Kamarah Bender led the Raiders (11-2) with a game high 19 points. She scored nine of those points in the final quarter when the Cardinals (9-3) were hanging around down by just three when Bender’s 3 with 3:50 left pushed it out to a 39-33 Harding lead.

“It’s nice to have a different person that can step up for us at any point,” Caputo said. “Kamara just knew she could get to the bucket and start to finish for us.”

Correspondent photo / Dianna Oatridge Canfield's Grace Mangapora (44) goes to the hoop against Warren G. Harding's Faith Burch (22) during their game in Warren on Wednesday night.

Canfield started the game with an early 8-4 lead before Harding closed out the quarter on a 4-0 run to make it 8-8 after one.

“First half, we told the girls that we came out a little bit slow,” Caputo said. “We turned the ball over way too many times. We couldn’t finish at the bucket. We left a lot of easy ones out there. We tried to relax, calm down, and just continue what we were doing on the defensive end.”

That momentum continued as the Raiders built out a 16-8 lead after Faith Burch 3. The the Cardinals responded as they did much of the night with timely shots to get it back within one at 18-17 after Grace Mangapora made two fouls shots with 1:07 left in the opening half.

Bender added a bucket for Harding before halftime to make it 20-17 at the half.

“We felt very fortunate at halftime to be only down three,” Canfield coach Matt Reel said. “I don’t think we played very well in the first half, but I think a lot of that was due to Harding. Their athleticism and length bothered us. We felt fortunate there. We made a few unfortunate mistakes at key times that I think really hurt us. They did a nice job.”

The Cardinals shot just 5-of-28 from the field, but were aided by Harding turnovers and their shooting woes as well. The Raiders were just 8-of-25 in the first half.

Reel agreed his team had good looks in that opening half, but never got a lot of second chance opportunities.

Mangapora, Canfield’s leading scorer, was held to just one field goal and seven points in the opening half. She finished with 13 points and along with Ashley Dill were the only players for Canfield in double figures.

“I did,” Reel said. “They’re a good coaching staff. The boxed us out and played our best player Grace very well. We needed some other people to step up and make some shots. We didn’t. I think the game came down to that. For the most part, we got good shots. We didn’t convert at key times. Their length on the board and aggressiveness held us to one shot at times. We needed to have a better shooting night obviously. Give them credit for holding us to one shot.”

Harding came out in the second half with a 9-1 lead to make it 29-18 midway through the quarter after Diamond Phillips free throw completed a three point play for the Raiders.

“That was probably our best third quarter we’ve had all year,” Caputo said. “That’s the one thing we keep preaching, we’re changing what we do during halftime to get us to come out better. Tonight was the first night that we actually came out with that explosiveness that we needed.”

Canfield again got it within six, 32-26 at the end of three, but never got the timely shot it needed in the final quarter as it got it within three but no closer as Bender scored seven of Harding’s final 11 points down the stretch as the Raiders ended the game on a 13-5 run.

“We’re in the midst of three games in five days,” Reel said. “We played Howland Saturday, a really good Buchtel team Monday and then a really good Harding team tonight. We go Fitch, then Laurel Academy, who’s No. 8 in the state. We go against Stow in Indiana in the Hoosiers Gym. They should probably be ranked in the top 10. That’s our schedule. I think it’s going to prepare us. We’re just going to keep working at getting better. That’s our goal. We were 9-1, but I think we’ve improved since then.”