Gary Ayers
A strong 21-point burst in the first quarter led Murphy's Lady Bulldogs to a 48-37 win over the Lady Devils Tuesday night, Feb. 11. Even though the Lady Devils fought back hard, out-scoring Murphy in the second and third quarters, the mountain was too tall to climb in the final home game of the season at Swain. Julia Dockery's solid performance with a game-high 19 points led Murphy while the Lady Devils had outstanding efforts from Carley Teesateskie with 14 points and nine rebounds and Molleigh Woodard scoring 14 points.
Swain got the early lead as Emily Stargell hit a free throw and Woodard nailed an early 3-point shot for a 4-3 lead as Kennedy White answered with a 3-point goal for Murphy. Emma Laney and Cayla Geer scored five straight points for Murphy before Teesateskie hit a big three-point shot for an 8-7 Murphy lead. But an 11-0 Murphy run put Murphy in the lead for good before Stargell hit another free throw for a 19-8 Murphy lead.
White's bucket ended the first quarter with Murphy in front 21-8.
Free throws were a painful thorn-in-the-side for the Lady Devils, hitting only 7-21 on the night, leaving a potential 14 points at the line. But Swain closed the gap in the second quarter as Teesateskie scored 5-straight points to open the quarter to cut Murphy's lead to 21-13. Dockery fired back with 5-straight points of her own before the Woodard girls, Molleigh and Faith, hit back-to-back shots for Swain for a 26-17 Lady Bulldog lead.
White hit another big 3-point shot aided by a Dockery free throw for a 30-17 half-time lead.
Swain continued the comeback effort in the third quarter as White got a big 3-point shot for Murphy, but the Woodard sisters stepped up again with Molleigh Scoring 4 points and Faith adding two while Teesateskie hit a free throw for a 33-24 Murphy edge. The next 5:00 were dominated by free throws with Swain hitting 3-6 and Murphy going only 1-6. Jayden Smiley knocked down a 3-point shot, and Dockery hit two field goals for a 38-30 Murphy lead after three quarters.
Dockery continued her balanced scoring with five points in the fourth quarter as Swain was led by Molleigh Woodard with 5 points and Teesateskie with two. But Emma Hensley and Emma Laney added baskets for Murphy for the final 48-37 Lady Bulldog advantage.
Swain is now 4-15, 1-7 in conference play with Murphy at 10-13, 3-5.
Faith Woodard, the only Swain senior, was honored in pre-game activities before playing her final home game on the Swain hardwood.
Swain hits the road for the final two games of the regular season, traveling to Andrews Feb. 11 and then to Cherokee Feb.13 before gearing up for the Smoky Mountain Conference tournament at Hayesville
Feb. 17-21.
Cherokee has already clinched the regular season SMC title and the #1 tourney seed. Any potential playoff games will likely be on the road for the Lady Devils.