Bulldogs chew up Knights, Advance to 4th straight Final Four

Sports, Team FYN Sports, TeamFYNSports

Robbinsville, NC- This past Saturday we were lucky enough to experience Murphy vs Robbinsville part 3; Only this time it was in the Elite Eight of the NCHSAA Playoffs.

The stars were aligned for the Black Knights more so than ever this time around, with more fans allowed than there had been all year, the fact that they had beaten Murphy pretty handily twice already this year, and they came in carrying the momentum from a dominant win over Easy Surry in their previous game.

Yet no matter how high the odds were stacked, this time around it was different. The Lady Bulldogs of old showed up and put the Lady Knights in their place, dominating the game from start to finish and winning 49-37 while advancing the their fourth straight Final Four.

Murphy came in with their head down and went to work early, building a 32-15 halftime lead and never looked back, making sure the Knights would remember that the road to the Western Regional Championship runs through Murphy.

Torin Rogers was a force to be reckoned with, dropping 19 points and collecting 21 rebounds on the night.

Kaiya Pickens and Sarah Pullium also notched 10 points a piece, while Pullium added 11 boards also.

Tuesday the Bulldogs will travel to undefeated Mitchell to compete in their 4th straight Final Four. Mitchell is coming off of a 55-54 win over Bishop McGuinness in their previous game.

If I was a Mitchell Mountaineer fan, I’d be a little worried. Ever since the start of the NCHSAA Playoffs, these Lady Bulldogs have flipped the switch. Head Coach Ray Gutierrez has his girls playing a dominant style of basketball right now and I would not want to be the team standing between them and the State Championship.

These Playoff Bulldogs are different.

Lady Bulldogs and Lady Knights to play for SMC Title

Sports, Team FYN Sports, TeamFYNSports

Photos from RHS Digital Media on Facebook

 

In a challenging COVID season where teams are only allowed to play conference games, both the Lady Knights and the Lady Bulldogs have been able to maintain their focus and stand atop of the Smoky Mountain Conference with only one game left in the regular season.

The opponent left on the Bulldogs schedule: Robbinsville

The opponent left on the Knights schedule: Murphy

It just so happens that Murphy and Robbinsville will play in the last game of the regular season for the SMC Title.

(FYI you can watch these two teams compete for the SMC title LIVE on FYNtv.com. We will also have the JV and Varsity Boys games LIVE with stream starting at 5:00.)

There’s a lot of history between these two programs in all sports across the board. Everyone knows how big the rivalry is between the Knights and Dogs on the grid iron, but we are seeing the bad blood spill out into other sports as well. It always seems like its Murphy and Robbinsville duking it out at the end of the year for their spot in the playoffs or to advance deeper into the playoffs. When the schedule was made for this year, I have a feeling schedule makers knew to have these 2 teams playing in the final game of the year.

For now, let’s take a look at both these girls basketball teams and how they got to this point.

Lady Knights:

The Robbinsville Lady Knights are putting on a show this season.

They are currently riding a 10 game winning streak.

In their last 10 games, they have defeated Swain and Hayesville twice, Andrews, Murphy, Rosman, Nantahala, and Cherokee. Their lone loss on the year they avenged last week when they beat the Cherokee Lady Braves in triple overtime. Over the past ten games, the Black Knights leader and Point Guard Desta Trammell has averaged nearly 20 points a game.

Head Coach Lucas Ford has been able to keep his team cool, calm, and collected when they have found themselves behind in games this year. There’s a lot to be said about a team that can come back and beat a team like Cherokee in triple overtime, a team that they have historically struggled against.

Lady Bulldogs:

The Lady Bulldogs are the defending NCHSAA 1A State Champions. They were riding a 36 game win streak that dated back to 2019 before they lost to Robbinsville last month. During the Bulldogs historic State Championship run, the Lady Knights took them to OT in the regular season but thanks to since graduated Guard Sydni Addison, the Bulldogs were able to come away with a W in that one and keep their undefeated season alive.

The Bulldogs defeated Cherokee 57-47 last night and now have a 42-1 record over the past 2 years.

It pretty impressive what Head Coach Ray Gutierrez has been able to do since he took over the reigns at Murphy. Since he took over during the ’16 & ’17 season, the Dogs have a 97-7 overall record.  You can bet that 7th loss on the record that came at the hands of the Black Knights earlier this year cut a little deeper than the rest as it snapped the winning streak and put the Bulldogs chances of winning their 4th straight SMC Title in jeopardy.

The Dogs were able to regroup since that loss, and have put themselves in a position where they control their own destiny, just as the Black Knights do.

 

Winner take all. The winner of this game will be crowned SMC Champs, and also earn that top seed in the playoffs that comes with winning your conference.

Murphy Basketball Sweeps Andrews

Sports, Team FYN Sports, TeamFYNSports

Photos from MHS Athletics Facebook page

Murphy, NC- Friday night was a goodnight for basketball in Murphy. All teams were able to come away with a win over Andrews, and get things back on track after stumbling against Robbinsville on Tuesday.

The Murphy Varsity boys seem to play in a close game every time they take the court. In their first game of the season and coincidentally their first matchup against Andrews, they fell 56-51. Their previous two games of the season against Cherokee and Robbinsville both went into overtime, so its always a dog fight when the dogs take the court. Last night was no different, as Andrews took them all the way to the final buzzer.

The Dogs were able to come away with a 46-43 win and avenge their first loss against Andrews earlier in the year.

 

Eyes were on the Murphy Lady Bulldogs last night too, as they were coming off their first loss since 2016 after falling to Robbinsville Tuesday.

It was back to your regularly scheduled programming however, as the Lady Bulldogs throttled the Lady Wildcats 80-8.

Coach Gutierrez was able to get his teams head back in the game and had them playing Bulldog basketball again.

According to MaxPreps the Lady Bulldogs fell all the way to 12th in the 1a state rankings, the lowest they have been ranked in a long long time.

The Girls NCHSAA 1a rankings are as follows:

1 Community School of Davidson (Davidson) 4-0
2 Princeton 6-0
3 Falls Lake Academy (Creedmoor) 4-0
4 Mitchell (Bakersville) 7-0
5 East Surry (Pilot Mountain) 5-0
6 Bishop McGuinness (Kernersville) 4-0
7 Pamlico County (Bayboro) 4-0
8 North Rowan (Spencer) 5-1
9 Highlands 3-0
10 Mountain Island Charter (Mt. Holly) 4-1
11 Avery County (Newland) 3-0
12 Robbinsville 6-1
13 Murphy 6-1
14 Cherokee 4-1

 

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