Ray Gutierrez
Murphy
Lady Bulldogs girls basketball coach Ray Gutierrez and rising senior Torin Rogers both picked up awards from the Asheville Citizen-Times on July 20.
Gutierrez was named Western North Carolina Coach of the Year, while Rogers was named Western North Carolina Player of the Year.
Gutierrez led the Lady Bulldogs to a 17-2 record and a second straight N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A state championship. Unlike in 2019-20, when Murphy was undefeated, the Lady Bulldogs won every playoff game on the road before beating Princeton in the state championship game. The team honored the number of miles travelled in the playoff run on their state championship ring.
Rogers averaged 24.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game during her junior season. She was named Most Outstanding Player of the state championship game after scoring 22 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. She was also named Smoky Mountain Conference Player of the Year for the second straight year as well as first team all-district and third team all-state. Rogers verbally committed to the University of Richmond (Va.) on May 22 and is planning to sign with the Spiders this winter.
Murphy seniors Kaiya PIckens and Sarah Pullium were named to the All-WNC second team. In the rest of the conference, Robbinsville sophomore Desta Trammell was named First-Team All-WNC. On the boys side, Hayesville junior Kolbe Ashe was named First-Team All-WNC, while senior Blake McClure was an honorable mention.