Murphy – If anyone thought Murphy was ready to relinquish its perch atop the Big Smoky Mountain Conference, last week put an end to that.
In back-to-back games against Robbinsville and Cherokee, the two teams expected to compete with the Lady Bulldogs for the conference crown, Murphy bested the Lady Knights at home 54-48, then won at the Lady Braves 57-52 the next day.
“I definitely think we played two of the top teams in the conference, back-to-back, two nights in a row and especially around this time of the year, right before Christmas, I think it shows a lot,” senior Torin Rogers said. “We’re tough, and we find a way to win.”
Rogers was spectacular in both games, finishing with 33 points, 15 rebounds and nine blocks against Robbinsville and 32 points against Cherokee.
“People don’t realize, they see this and she’s actually getting all kinds of junk,” head coach Ray Gutierrez said of Rogers. “Robbinsville face-guarded her last night, Cherokee denied her full-court tonight. Really proud of that kid, to have 33 and 32 against the the two best teams in the conference, it says a lot, especially when you see she’s being guarded hard by their best defender.”
Against the Lady Knights, Murphy (7-2 overall, 3-0 Big Smoky Mountain Conference) struggled out of the gate before finding its footing in the second half.
The Lady Bulldogs struggled with turnovers, especially in the first quarter. The second quarter was better, but the offense didn’t get going and Robbinsville led 24-19 at halftime.
That changed in the second half. After scoring nine in the first half, Rogers took over on both ends of the floor. She scored 11 in the third quarter, including seven straight to tie the game at 30. She found Calista Adams for a transition layup with 4:24 in the third quarter that gave Murphy a 32-30 lead, and it never trailed again..
While their offense got going, the Lady Bulldogs’ defense clamped down on Robbinsville (4-2, 1-1). Defending conference player of the year Desta Trammell scored 19 points but never took over the game, thanks to good on ball defense from Amber Martin. Martin did a good job fighting through ball screens and not letting Trammell get by, but when she did Rogers was waiting at the rim.
“I thought our defense was where it needed to be but offensively I really didn’t think we could’ve played worse,” Rogers said about the first half. “When we came in (the locker room), we knew we needed to settle down.”
Robbinsville didn’t score for an eight-minute span that lasted during the third and fourth quarter, during which Murphy turned a 30-26 deficit into a 40-30 lead with 5:31 remaining. Trammell responded with five quick points, but the Lady Bulldogs answered back with a 9-0 run to extend the lead to 14 with 2:35 to go. Robbinsville cut the lead to five in the final minute, but free throws from Rogers stopped any potential Lady Knights’ rally.
It was a similar slow start in Cherokee. The Lady Bulldogs were somewhat careless against a pesky and hard-nosed Lady Braves (6-2, 1-1) team, who led 18-13 about midway through the second quarter. But Murphy got a boost from sophomore Emma Ledford, who scored seven points in the second quarter to help give the Lady Bulldogs a 22-20 halftime lead.
“We have all kinds of good players on this team,” Gutierrez said. “They all have their own role, and the sooner that we realize those roles and we don’t play beyond those roles, the better for us.”
Murphy finally got some breathing room late in the third quarter, with a Martin three pushing the lead to 36-27 with 2:45 remaining in the quarter. However, Cherokee wouldn’t let Murphy run away with the game. The Lady Bulldogs were sluggish as they neared the end of the back to back, and the Lady Braves kept chipping away.
After Cherokee cut the lead to one with 37.3 seconds left, Rogers corralled the rebound off a missed free throw and was fouled. Cherokee’s Leilaya McMillian then slammed the ball and was called for a technical foul. Rogers answered by hitting five of six free throws to push the lead to six as part of a 13-point fourth quarter where she hit 11 of 12 shots from the foul line to seal the win.
At this point of the season, Gutierrez likes his team’s defense and rebounding, but wants to clean some things up offensively. It always helps to have a player as talented as Rogers, though the team sometimes goes through offensive lulls and looks uncomfortable at times in the positionless basketball Gutierrez wants to play.
“The kids, I don’t know if it was the noise or how loud it was or if it was the heat of the moment, we went brain dead a couple times,” Gutierrez said. “Didn’t run some sets that we called.”
Murphy will play in Battle of the States at Towns County (Ga.) High School, which started Tuesday and ends Thursday.
“I know there’s a lot of people over there who support us and keep a close watch on us,” Gutierrez said. “It’s a tournament that we want to win, but it’s also a tournament that we have a lot of fun at.”