Ursuline’s Dayshannette Harris takes school, county scoring record

February 12, 2019 at 12:00a.m.

Ursuline’s Harris smashes Grant’s career record

WARREN

Ursuline senior Dayshanette Harris claims she’s not good at math, but she knows what 2,309 adds up to — the Ursuline and Mahoning County records for career points.

Monday at Warren Harding, Harris broke Tyra Grant’s record of 2,297 points with her first basket of the third quarter in a 71-62 victory.

Harris said she was unaware of the accomplishment until the next break.

“When they called timeout, [Ursuline coach Vannessa Dickson] said you’re the all-time leading scorer,” the University of Pittsburgh recruit said.

Grant, who played in the state finals in 2004 and 2006, set the record after surpassing Boardman’s Amber Bland (2,190 points from 2000-04). Dickson was Grant’s teammate when the Irish won the 2004 Division III state crown.

Harris said she had no idea she was close to breaking the school record and the milestone hasn’t sunk in.

“Not yet — I had no idea,” said Harris, who needed 16 points to set the record. She finished with 27 after scoring 15 in the first half.

Dickson said Harris was aware before she hit the 1,000 and 2,000 milestones.

“I didn’t want her to know about this one [in advance],” Dickson said.

The Irish (14-5), the third seed at the Division II district tournament at Austintown Fitch), started sluggish, trailing 9-2.

The Raiders’ lead did not last long. Harris connected for three 3-pointers as the Irish opened up a 21-18 lead.

Then Destiny Goodnight took over. The 6-foot Ursuline senior made three consecutive long-range shots to launch Ursuline’s 20-0 run to start the second quarter.

“It felt amazing — I’ve been struggling for a couple of games,” said Goodnight, who scored 13 points in the second quarter and 20 for the game. “This game, I was on.”

Harris said Goodnight “had an amazing game tonight — let’s hope that keeps going.”

Harris, who draws the attention of opponents’ best defenders, said it helps when teammates get hot.

“They fade off of me a little bit, so I love when she’s hitting those shots,” Harris said. “I can drive, it makes it easier on me.”

Anyah Curd scored 11 points.

Dickson said the game changes “drastically” when Harris’ teammates sizzle.

“A lot of people come and scout us and they see Dayshanette and Anyah, but we have seven kids that can play, seven kids that can score,” Dickson said. “We have tremendous shooters and she did exactly what any other senior would do — she was wide open, she took the shot, she knocked it down.”

The Irish outscored the Raiders 24-5 in the second quarter for a 22-point halftime lead.

That cushion came in handy as the Raiders surged in the third quarter, limiting the Irish to eight points.

In the fourth quarter, Kamarah Bender sank a free throw to slice the Irish lead to 59-50, but that was as close as the Raiders (12-10) would get.

“It’s extremely important to have an atmosphere like that going into tournament time, to know that we can weather a storm,” Dickson said of the Raiders’ intensity.

Bender finished with 28 points.

“She’s an amazing player,” Harris said. “I like to compete against good players and it was definitely a competition.

“I love a competition.”

Faith Burch scored 17 points and Indea Phillips 10.

“They kind of stomped on us a little bit, but we figured it out and got it together,” Harris said.

Bender said the Irish showed “more hustle than us. We weren’t on our usual defensive mode.”

Ursuline has three more regular-season games this week. The first tournament game will be at home on Feb. 21 against the Lakeview-Struthers winner.