Robbinsville. –The second meeting of the season between Murphy and Robbinsville was surrounded by a lot of hype.
For the first quarter, it appeared the Lady Knights had things well in-hand.
For the remaining three quarters, the Lady Bulldogs proved different.
Still without freshman starting point guard Desta Trammell – who has been sidelined with a minor injury since Feb. 3 – Robbinsville (17-5, 6-5) had opened a 15-10 lead by the end of the first quarter Monday night in Graham County, but Murphy (21-0, 11-0) held the Lady Knights to just four points in the second quarter and six in the third, which paved the way for an offensive outpour that led to a 60-36 Lady Bulldogs victory.
“The kids played hard,” Murphy coach Ray Gutierrez said of the win. “Robbinsville plays really good at home each and every year and we know that. So we knew it was going to be tough, they have a good basketball team.”
Robbinsville won the inside battle during the first stanza, consistently making some easy layups to stay ahead.
Murphy began to surge back quickly in the second, with the momentum seemingly shifting after Sydni Addison hit a 3-pointer, Robbinsville drove down the court and Sarah Pullium blocked a shot, which led to a turnover and another Addison trey.
After senior Cambrie Lovin drained a 3-pointer of her own, Robbinsville did not score from the field until the fourth quarter, on a pair of late baskets by both Lovin and Kensley Phillips.
Otherwise, the Knights’ offense was limited to the foul line, which saw Yeika Jimenez go 7-of-10 from the charity stripe.
The Lady Bulldogs continuously applied pressure all over the court and the shots just didn’t drop for Robbinsville, despite numerous attempts from beyond-the-arc and in-the-paint.
Murphy was led by a 26-point game from Torin Rogers, who has put some shaky performances behind her as the Lady Bulldogs eye the postseason.
“She’s playing better, Gutierrez said of Rogers’ perfomance. “I think early on she was feeling a ton of pressure and that right now we just have to calm down so that she can play freely. The last couple of weeks she play excellent and it’s a great time for her to be playing well.”
Also scoring for Murphy was Pullium 12, Addison 6, Kaiya Pickens 6, Leah Moses 4 and Mia Wilson 2.
“Right now we should be playing our best basketball,” Gutierrez added. “We know that we could possibly see them (Robbinsville) one or two more times and I think that we were able to do a lot of things tonight and we’re getting better defensively.