Murphy – The Lady Bulldogs had a tough week, dropping three games in Smoky Mountain Conference play. Murphy first lost to Andrews 57-39 at home, then dropped road games at Highlands 44-35 and Cherokee 90-29.
The Lady Bulldogs didn’t fare any better at Highlands on Feb. 7, although they did keep it close in the first period. The Lady Dogs jumped out to a 10-4 lead with 4:33 left in the first period, behind two 3-pointers, one from Emma Laney and another from Saige Kent.
Highlands outscored the Lady Dogs 8-2 in the final half of the quarter, and the score was tied at 12. Kennedy White put Murphy back in the lead early in the second period when she hit a 3-pointer in the first minute, giving Murphy the lead 15-12.
The Lady Dogs would hold that lead until the three-minute mark, when Highlands hit a 3-pointer to go up 18-17. Highlands went on to outscore Murphy 5-1 the rest of the second period to take a 23-18 lead into the half.
Kayla Greer hit a 3-pointer early in the third period to pull Murphy back to within four of the lead, but that was as close as Murphy would get, as the Lady Highlanders (7-15) went on to outscore the Lady Dogs 21-17 in the second half to pull out the win 44-35. Saige Kent led the Lady Dogs in points scored.
After two tough losses, the Lady Dogs’ week didn’t get any better as they had to travel to Cherokee (20-1) on Friday to take on the top-ranked Lady Braves. The score was 32-6 at the end of the first quarter, and it went from bad to worse after that. Cherokee went on to build a 72-18 halftime lead, which resulted in a running clock in he second half.
Murphy only made six field goals in the first half, but luckily four of those six were 3-pointers. Saige Kent hit two of those threes in the first half, while Cecily Swimmer of Cherokee had 13 points in the first quarter. She finished with 20 points in only three quarters.
Most of the Lady Braves saw little action in the second half, but still outscored the Lady Bulldogs 17-13. Murphy’s shooting woes continued as they only made two field goals in the second half as the Lady Dogs fell to Cherokee 90-29.
Julia Dockery led all Murphy scorers with eight points. Whitney Rogers of Cherokee led all scorers with 25 points, but Cherokee had two other players in double figures as well with their starters only playing three quarters.