Murphy – Cherokee was not very gracious to their host, the Lady Bulldogs, as they invaded Murphy and took away an 83-32-win on Jan. 23.
The Lady Braves used a full-court press to cause Murphy to turn the ball over 13 times in the first quarter alone. Many of those turnovers resulted in points off of transition, as the Braves built a 27-9 lead and never looked back.
Murphy’s turnover woes continued in the second quarter, as the full-court pressure caused them to cough it up nine more times. What made matters worse for the Lady Dogs (2-11) was that they only shot 28 percent from inside the arc and 33 percent from three-point land.
That’s enough to lead to a negative outcome, but when you add the turnovers into those stats it results in a disaster. Cherokee (14-1) built up a 53-18 lead at halftime.
Cherokee played most of their bench during the second half, but the full-court pressures didn’t let up. The Lady Bulldogs couldn’t find a way to break the pressure, as they turned it over 16 more times in the second half. The Lady Braves evened their lead by 13 more points in the second half.
Cherokee had four players in double figures. Cecily Swimmer had 20, Joscelyn Stamper and Whitney Rogers with 12 apiece, and Daisee Fourkiller-Raby had 11. Murphy was led by Cayla Greer with eight, and Marley Blackwell came off the bench to score six.
Lady Dogs top Blue Ridge
The Lady Dogs (2-12) rebounded from that loss as they entertained Blue Ridge Early College (1-14) in Murphy on Thursday night as they defeated the Lady Bobcats 70-26.
Kennedy White shot 50 percent from long range as she sunk three of her six attempts. She added two more field goals to lead all Murphy scorers with 13 points. Emma Laney hit for six points inside the paint, added a three pointer and a free throw for 10 points.
Julia Dockery came out on fire as she hit for all 10 of her points to lead Murphy to a 26-7 first-quarter lead. Murphy (2-12) used a full-court press to create turnovers. The Lady Dogs had 25 steals and scored 32 of their 70 points off of turnovers.
Kennedy White went 3-4 from beyond the arc and added two more field goals to finish the night with 13 points. Emma Laney and Julia Dockery ended with 10 points apiece.
Emma Hensly led the defensive effort with 12 rebounds and three steals. She almost had a double-double as she scored nine points.
Brooklyn Kenny of Blue Ridge (1-14) led all scorers, as she accounted for 21 of the Lady Bobcats’ 32 points.