Trump’s granddaughter and Carson Beck in crowd as Haley Cavinder leads UM to win over SMU

Secret service agents were on alert at the Watsco Center Sunday afternoon, as Kai Trump, the eldest of Donald Trump’s 10 grandchildren and a committed University of Miami golf team recruit, was in the stands for the women’s basketball game against SMU.

Also watching from courtside seats were incoming Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck and Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson, both wearing “Cavinder” t-shirts. The two football stars date the UM basketball-playing Cavinder twins. Beck dates Hanna and Ferguson dates Haley.

The twins and their teammates gave the crowd plenty to cheer about, and a few minutes of tension, as the Hurricanes withstood a furious late SMU rally to beat the Mustangs 70-63.

Haley Cavinder was the game’s top scorer with 32 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including six three pointers. Her sister, Hanna, went 1-for-8 from the field, but led the team with eight assists and had eight rebounds.

“I was really proud of her, she showed great composure,” UM coach Tricia Cullop said of Haley Cavinder. “Her teammates did a great job screening for her because she doesn’t get those open looks. A lot of teams are denying her, trapping her, hard hedging her. She sees all kinds of defenses...She’s a phenomenal shooter, phenomenal scorer, and competitor.”

Cavinder’s teammates praised her leadership and competitive spirit.

“She’s going to tell you straight up how it is,” said freshman guard Ahnay Adams. “Like I missed her one time and she was like, `Get me the f-ing ball.’ No hard feelings. You want to win and you’re going to do whatever it takes to win. So, I said, `OK.’ and I got her the ball the next time. She’s a real competitor and you want to play with someone like that because it’s contagious.”

Darrione Roberts, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, agreed that Cavinder’s passion carries over to her teammates.

“She’s one of our captains, we trust her to have the ball,” Roberts said. “She brings it every single day, so it’s no surprise to us. She works hard. She did not want to lose [Sunday] and she made that perfectly clear.”

The Hurricanes were desperate for a win after seven consecutive conference losses. They improved to 12-8 overall and 2-7 in the ACC. SMU dropped to 10-11 and 2-7.

“We’ve all been frustrated, and for us to not only get the win, but for Haley to have a night like that,” Cullop said. “And I want to compliment Darrion, too. Between the two of them, they’re 10 for 20 from the three point line. That’s phenomenal. When you can do that, it makes everybody else’s job easier.”

It was a close game early on and Miami led 32-27 at halftime. Back-to-back Haley Cavinder threes in the third quarter stretched UM’s lead to six points and the Hurricanes opened the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run to take an 18-point lead, largest of the game, with eight minutes remaining.

But then Miami went cold and SMU took advantage, going on a 17-3 run to close the deficit to three points with six minutes to go. Haley Cavinder made three of four free throws down the stretch to keep UM ahead.

“They weren’t going to be denied today,” Cullop said of her players. “Even when things didn’t go well, we had 19 turnovers, that’s not a good thing, but they didn’t let it bother them. They had bounce back ability. Make a mistake, let’s snap back. Let’s get a stop on the other end. You can’t let momentum shifts bother you, and that’s where we matured with this game.”

The Canes are back home Thursday night against Virginia. Tipoff is 7 p.m. and the game will commemorate National Girls and Women in Sports Day.