It was a winning week for the Murphy varsity basketball teams. They spent the week on the road picking up road wins by huge margins.
They started the week at Nantahala with a sweep, then traveled to Cashiers on Thursday, when they swept Blue Ridge Early College.
Boys downs Hawks
With a strong first half including two players in double digit points, the Bulldogs traveled to Nantahala on Jan. 6 and came home with a 83-47 win.
With 13 points, Cale Harger led the Dogs to an 29-point first quarter against the Hawks. Tyler Payne also had seven points in the opening period.
The Dogs followed it up with a huge second quarter scoring 31 points, led again by Harger with eight points. With 60 points in the first half, the Dogs cruised to victory in the second half with 13 points in the third quarter and 10 more in the fourth to secure the win.
Cale Harger led the Dogs with 21 points, all coming in the first half. Also in double-digits were Tyler Payne with 13 points and Abram Twiggs with 10 points.
Grayson Hall had seven points on two field goals in the second quarter and a 3-pointer in the third quarter. Camden Breazeale’s six points came on three buckets in the fourth quarter. Ryan Payne also had six points.
Leading the Hawks was Cole McCoy with 20 points and Landon Neal with 18 points against the Dogs.
Boys win by 44
Back on the road, the Dogs defeated Blue Ridge Early College 71-27 for their second big win of the week.
The Dogs earned their third straight win Thursday night, when they scored over 70 points and won by over 30 points.
With a 29-point first quarter, the Dogs got out to a big lead to start the contest. They followed it up with a 26-point second quarter to lead 55-15 at halftime.
The dogs toned it down in the second half with a 12-point third quarter and a four-point fourth quarter to secure the road victory.
Girls beat Hawks
The Lady Dogs kicked off the week by defeating Nantahala 67-30 on the road. With double digit points in all four quarters, the Lady Dogs secured the victory on Jan. 6.
They also held the Lady Hawks to only 10 points in the second half to get the win.
Murphy put together a 38-point first-half performance to take an early lead. The Lady Dogs had 20 points in the opening quarter, led by Emma Laney with eight points. Ellie McClure and Kennedy White also had six points each.
The Lady Dogs followed it up with a 18-point second quarter, led by CJ Yarbro and Gracie Hall with six points each. Yarbro’s six points came on two 3-pointers.
With two big opening quarters, the Lady Dogs led 38-20 at halftime.
Murphy began to pull away and put the game out of reach with 17 points in the third quarter, while the Lady Hawks only had four points. The four Nantahala points were scored by Delaney McLean.
Emma Hensley all nine of her points on the night in the third quarter as the Lady Dogs took a 55-24 lead to the final frame.
Yarbro had another big quarter in the fourth with eight points to cap off a 16-point performance. Ilie Smith and Ansley Roper had two points each in the fourth quarter as the Dogs won.
Laney’s 10 points on the night joins Yarbro as the only Lady Dogs in double-digits.
The Lady Hawks were led by McLean with 23 points, including at least one 3-pointer in each quarter. Zoey Passmore had six points and Abby Sutton had one point with it coming on a first-quarter free throw.
Girls win by 32
The Lady Dogs returned to the court Thursday night, when they faced Blue Ridge Early College. Back on the road, the Dogs defeated the Lady Bobcats 70-38.
With a 26-point opening quarter, the Lady Dogs were off to the race with a huge early lead. The Lady Bobcats outscored the Dogs 16-11 in the second quarter, but the Dogs took a 37-22 lead to halftime.
Both teams scored seven points in the third quarter as the Lady Dogs maintained their lead. Murphy capped off the game with a huge fourth quarter as the Lady Dogs dropped 26 points to win the game.
Four Lady Dogs were in double figured led by Kennedy White with 14 points and Emma Hensley with 13 points. Nine of White’s 14 points came on 3-pointers.
Ilie Smith had 11 points and Emma Laney had 10 points on Thursday.
Up next
The Dogs return to the court to kick off a three-game home stand today against Highlands.
They will then face Swain County on Friday, then host Hayesville on Tuesday.
For all three home games, the girls will play at 6:30 p.m., with the boys playing directly after.