Robbinsville – If there’s one thing to know about this year’s Murphy girls basketball team, it’s that they never let the moment get too big.
Instead the Lady Bulldogs just take what’s in front of them. If that’s the home-run play, then they swing for the fences. So when Amber Martin, with Murphy leading 42-41 with 1:51 left at Robbinsville on Feb.1, throws a full-court heave to Calista Adams for a layup to break the Robbinsville press, it was the right play and not just the hero play.
The same could be said for the Lady Bulldogs’ next possession, when they broke the Lady Knights’ press again and Torin Rogers found her sister, Lochlan, for a layup to push the lead to five. And when Torin took a risk and hit a turnaround jumper to ice the game, but it was a calculated one with a defensive matchup she liked.
Murphy didn’t blink down the stretch, traveling to Robbinsville and taking down the Lady Knights, 48-44.
“Robbinsville is a deep playoff team,” head coach Ray Gutierrez said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see them again. And so to get games like this, that playoff feel, it’s just huge for us. Huge momentum for us going into the last couple games of the year and the conference tournament. Really proud of our kids.”
The game had huge implications for the Big Smoky Mountain Conference and state tournament seedings. Both teams entered the game with 6-1 conference records, as the winner would have the inside track to the regular-season conference championship as well as a top seed in the playoffs.
After winning at Swain
County 56-37 on Friday, the Lady Bulldogs could have wrapped up the title Tuesday night against Andrews, which took place after this week’s edition of the Cherokee Scout went to press. They also beat Blue Ridge 91-40 on Feb. 2.
Like the first matchup, a 54-48 Murphy win on Dec. 21, it was a defensive battle. Though both teams prefer to play at a fast pace, the Lady Bulldogs (17-3 overall, 7-1 conference) chose to make Robbinsville (12-5, 5-2) beat them in the half-court offense whenever possible.
Torin Rogers didn’t have the same dominant performance like she did in the teams’ first matchup, but her presence scared Robbinsville away from the paint and made Murphy’s man-to-man defense that much more effective. The Lady Knights’ 44 points were a season low.
”Our key was have the mindset that our man is not going to beat you,” Martin said. “When everyone’s in the same mindset, it kind of comes together. It was just we’re going to outwork you, and whether you hit your shots or not, we’re going to make them hard to take.”
Thanks to some hot shooting, Murphy was able to jump out to a 17-9 lead early in the second quarter. But Robbinsville answered back, getting into the bonus and waking from a shooting slump to cut the lead to 24-23 at halftime.
Zoie Shuler hit two free throws at the start of the third quarter to give the Lady Knights their first lead since the opening minutes, but Murphy responded with a 7-0 run. Robbinsville answered back with a 12-3 run, and back-to-back buckets from Desta Trammel gave them a 37-34 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Torin Rogers would answer back with back-to-back buckets herself, only for Shuler to get an easy second chance opportunity to put the Lady Knights back in front. After a Robbinsville turnover, Addie Johnson found Lochlan Rogers for a layup, and Murphy would never trail again.
A 63-59 loss to Cherokee on Jan. 25 took the conference title race out of Murphy’s control. But after wins in Robbinsville and in Bryson City, the Lady Bulldogs are just a win away from one of the goals they set at the beginning of the season.
“We had a tough loss,” Torin Rogers said. “And we knew we needed to win this game. So we went out and did it, and we were excited, but now it’s time to look at the next one and get ready for the next goal.”