Heart Stopping Round 2 Action for Murphy Lady Bulldogs to get past Mitchell County

Photos from MHS Athletics on Facebook

 

Round 3 is Bulldog versus Bulldog . . .who will be best in show?

 

By Brandon Stephens

 

(Murphy) – – Long faces, frightened looks, and some shock that ran through the Murphy Lady Bulldog fans are all smiles, prideful looks, and feelings of hope today.  Murphy took a 64-to-47 win over the Mitchell County Lady Mountaineers on Thursday night (February 24, 2022).  The win was not an easy game as Mitchell County started the game with an up-tempo, toe-to-toe defense, and streak of good shooting.  When the first period ended 15-to-7 in favor of Mitchell, Murphy players and fans could feel the shock of how fierce the Lady Mountaineers wanted to play and take down a number one seed.

Mitchell County kept Murphy off the boards and out of the paint to limit the Lady Bulldogs from having only 5 points from the floor.  Poor shooting was just one aspect Murphy had to correct.  Mitchell was quite aggressive and fouled the Lady Bulldogs enough to place them on the free throw line seven times.  Murphy shot a poor 6 of 13.  Countering the aggressive Lady Mountaineer offense required a shift in defensive technique, which began to work late in the half.  The final three minutes of the first half was all that it took for Murphy to take over the game and not look back.  Down 20-to-10, Murphy launched a 16-to-nothing run to take the lead and snuff out Mitchell County.  Mitchell was able to get one more basket at the end of the period to go to half 26-to-22 in favor of the Lady Bulldogs.

Now invert what I said about Mitchell and Murphy, and we can insert it in this paragraph.  Mitchell contributed to the Murphy lead with poor shooting and aggressive play, which placed the Lady Bulldogs on the line seven times in the second half.  This time Murphy was cashing in on free throws (10-of 13) which was drastic improvement from the first half.  Really it was good teamwork and a wholistic effort by the Lady Bulldogs that put the nail in Mitchell’s coffin.  Addie Johnson cooked the nylon and helped building the Murphy lead with 10 points to crank up the start of the second half.  Murphy’s Lailee Holloway, Emma Ledford, and Amber Martin kept their fans cheering with 3-pointers, especially the student section, who shifted behind the Mitchell bench in the second half.  Murphy outscored Mitchell 20-to-5 in the third period to build its largest lead and enough cushion to go through the fourth.

The fourth wasn’t as exciting as Mitchell spent most of the time trying to catch up in scoring and fouled the Lady Bulldogs trying to stop a new scoring drive.  Torin Rogers was the lead scorer with 21, with most of her points coming on free throws in the fourth period due to the Lady Mountaineers aggressively trying to stop Murphy.   The final Murphy 64 Mitchell County 47.  Murphy moves to 24-and-3 and Mitchell finishes its season at 13-and-11.

Scoring (As Recorded by Team FYN Sports and Not Official)

Murphy

Lochlan Rogers – 4 Points

Calista Adams – 2 Points

Torin Rogers – 21 Points (1 3-Pointer)

Addie Johnson – 18 Points (1 3-Pointer)

Amber Martin – 7 Points (2 3-Pointers)

Lailee Holloway – 8 Points (2 3-Pointers)

Emma Ledford – 3 Points (1 3-Pointer)

 

                Mitchell County

Brooke Brewer – 3 Points (1 3-Pointer)

Chandra Jenkins – 9 Points

Cloe Carter – 10 Points (2 3-Pointers)

Savannah Banks – 10 Points

Regan Sparks – 11 Points

Who will be Third Round Best in Show

Murphy knows Albemarle too well as the Bulldog football team traveled a number of times to Stanley County to take a beating and then opened up a can of GATA in 2011 to go to Raleigh to win the State Championship.  Now Albemarle is sending its Lady Bulldogs basketball team as opponent to Murphy in the third round of the playoffs Saturday night at 6PM (February 26, 2022) and create and build on the long-time and long-distant rivalry that has been built through football. Albemarle is the number 8 seed in the western 1-A Women’s 2022 NCHSAA Playoffs and come to the third round with a 19-and-7 record.  Albemarle defeated Mount Airy in the second round this week 54-to-42.

…And a little child shall lead them.  The Albemarle play book may include a verse from Isaiah as Freshman Amari Baldwin has keep the Lady Bulldogs in the game averaging 19 points per game.  In fact, they probably changed the verse to children as there are no seniors on this team, or at least listed on the roster.  Murphy may have the height advantage as the team average is 5’6 and the tallest player is sophomore Destiny Miller (#30) who is 6’2.  Center Jasmine Brown will follow Amari Baldwin with 11 points per game and about 10 rebounds per game.  Kai Spencer and Bianca Robinson contribute between 7 and 9 points per game.  This team will be faster and good for an outside shot.

This game will stream on FYTN.net at 5:40PM Saturday night (February 26, 2022).  Team FYN Sports announcers Jake West and Brandon Stephens will have the call.  We hope you make the game, but if not, tune into our live stream.