Murphy – This Murphy girls basketball senior class has accomplished a lot in its four years.
The Lady Bulldogs have gone 93-10 over that span, winning two state championships, two Big Smoky Mountain conference regular-season championships and two conference tournament championships.
On Feb. 8, Murphy picked up another regular-season title, clinching the crown outright for the fourth time in five years with a 64-9 win over Andrews. The Lady Bulldogs finished the regular season with a 21-3 overall record and a 9-1 mark in conference play.
“To be champions of the conference regular season, that’s something to be very proud of,” head coach Ray Gutierrez said. “Something that very few people thought we’d be. But the kids believed and worked hard all year to achieve this goal, and I’m super proud of them.”
It took Murphy a little bit to get going following an emotional Senior Night ceremony, but the game was never in doubt. Both teams were cold to start, though the Lady Bulldogs still jumped out to a 10-0 lead.
Their press sped up Andrews (2-21, 0-10) in the second quarter, and Murphy led 35-4 at halftime before the game went into a running clock late in the third quarter.
“Just to see them play their last regular-season game was special,” Gutierrez said. “Like I told them, we have a lot of games left. It was good to take time to recognize them but we have the big goal still within our grasp, still within our reach, that’s what we’re working toward.”
The Lady Bulldogs played No. 4 seed Swain County on Monday night in the conference tournament, winning 59-39. Murphy will play again Friday against the winner of Tuesday night’s game between Cherokee and Robbinsville.
With a regular-season conference title, Murphy will get a guaranteed home playoff game in the first round of the state 1A playoffs, and likely more if they continue to advance.
All season, Gutierrez’s goal has been to get the team ready for postseason basketball. For a relatively inexperienced group outside of seniors Amber Martin and Torin Rogers, the Lady Bulldogs have gone through a challenging schedule that had teams of different style of play, talent, size and length that should prepare them for anything they see in the postseason.
“As coaches, we try to start peaking right at the right time,” Gutierrez said. “And we want to make sure that we’re a playoff basketball team.”