Saturday, Feb. 29, the Murphy Lady Bulldogs and the Cherokee Lady Braves played in front of a crowd of more than 1,000 at Murphy High School in the third round of the NCHSAA 1-A state playoffs. Sophomore forward

Senior Sydni Addison sets up on defense. Addison scored 20 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs.

Torin Rogers returned to the lineup after missing the previous playoff game with an ankle injury. Rogers didn’t miss a beat, putting up 14 points in the Lady Bulldogs 63-44 route of the Lady Braves.

Sophomore Torin Rogers lines up a free throw Saturday at home.

Murphy (28-0) started the game off hot, as senior Sarah Pullium got the team on the right track with eight first-quarter points. Pullium’s push helped the Lady Bulldogs jump out to a 20-6 lead. In the second, Rogers built onto the lead with six points in the quarter, padding Murphy’s lead to 36-14.

Senior Sydni Addison was the leading scorer for the day with 20 points, including two deep 3-pointers in the third quarter that helped the Lady Bulldogs build a 22-point lead heading into the fourth. The final quarter concluded without many fireworks from either side and the game ended just as it began, with Murphy in control.

This was the fourth time that these two rivals had the opportunity to face off this year and the Lady Bulldogs definitely got the best of the Lady Braves, walking away from all four games with a victory.

Tuesday night, March 3, at 6 p.m., Murphy will host East Surry in the quarterfinals of the NCHSAA 1-A state playoffs. Murphy will have revenge on the brain coming into this one against a Lady Cardinals team that knocked them out of the state playoffs in the semi-finals last year at Lenior-Rhyne University, on a last second 3-pointer.