Murphy – It was not an ideal situation for a must win game for the Lady Bulldogs against Swain County on Jan. 31.
One of their usual starters, Julia Dockery, had a migraine before the game and didn’t play. Then their second leading scorer, Addie Johnson, was on the bench for most of the first three quarters due to foul trouble. But Murphy hung around heading into the fourth, and thanks to a monster night from Lailee Holloway and an offense that finally got into a rhythm, pulled out a 50-41 win.
“The girls had very few subs didn’t come off the floor,” head coach Gary Thompson said. “And they gutted it out and pulled out a win. It wasn’t pretty, but they needed a win.”
The game was a must-win not just for playoff seeding, but for conference tournament seeding as well. Murphy (8-12 overall, 4-4 Big Smoky Mountain Conference) is fighting to stay on the right side of the 32 teams that qualify for the 1A West playoffs, so it can’t afford losses to teams it can beat. The Lady Bulldogs were also going for third in the conference, which they locked up with a 64-50 win over Andrews on Friday.
It was an uneven start for both teams. The Lady Devils (9-12, 3-5) had plenty of open looks but couldn’t connect, while outside of Holloway the Lady Bulldogs couldn’t get anything going on offense.
Murphy opened up a 16-7 lead early in the second quarter, but Swain settled in and closed the quarter on a 12-2 run. An Amaya Hicks 3-pointer lead gave the Lady Devils a 19-18 lead at halftime.
Johnson got called for her third foul in the opening minutes of the third quarter, and was back on the bench. Murphy’s offense continued to look stagnant, except for Holloway. She had 19 of the Lady Bulldogs’ first 26 points.
“Lailee, she doesn’t sweat it,” Johnson said. “She scores, she gets to the hoop, she does whatever we need her to do, she’s a great leader, really dependable.”
Despite Holloway’s sterling effort, Swain County started to separate late in the third quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Madison Spates put the Lady Devils ahead 33-26, though another three by Emma Laney cut the Lady Devils lead to 33-29 heading into the final frame.
After a layup by Makayla Cody put Swain up six, Murphy answered with an 8-0 run to go back in front. The Lady Devils would later retake the lead at 39-37 on an Amaya Hicks layup and 41-40 on one by her sister Marlee after a Lady Bulldogs’ defensive breakdown. But Holloway answered the bell again with a three-point play with 2:43 left, and Johnson buried a three on the next possession to put Murphy up 46-41.
The Lady Bulldogs finished off the week with two more wins, taking down Highlands 41-34 and Andrews. The win over the Lady Highlanders avenged a 38-24 loss from Dec. 2. A third-quarter surge turned a 19-18 halftime lead into a 33-22 lead heading into the final frame. Johnson led the way with 16 points.
Against the Lady Wildcats, Murphy led the whole way, but Andrews hung tough and trailed just 37-34 in the third quarter. The Lady Bulldogs answered with a 19-5 run to put the game away. Holloway had 15 points to lead Murphy, while Laney had 14 and Johnson had 10.
Entering last night’s game against Cherokee, the Lady Bulldogs were No. 26 in the 1A West RPI. A likely loss to the Lady Braves probably won’t hurt a lot due to their 19-3 record, but Murphy will probably need to win at least one game in the conference tournament to clinch a berth in the state playoffs.
“We needed to finish against Robbinsville, and we didn’t,” Thompson said. “We needed to finish tonight, and we did. I think that’s going to help us.”