Snowbird Termite Girls complete perfect season
Murphy – Not one single team in the Smokey Mountain Youth Conference this season had a response to the attack of the Lady Warriors.
In a preview of what’s to come, the Snowbird Termites (11-0) ended their chase of history Saturday, knocking off the Copper Basin (Tenn.) Lady Cougars in the league’s tournament finals at Murphy High School, 19-11.
“When we went into halftime, we were up by two and the girls didn’t even realize it,” said head coach Paige Jones. “I know these girls really well; if I absolutely have to call a timeout, I will, but Copper Basin was tired. We have a team full of guards, so we were running them. The last thing I want to do is give them a breather, when that’s our chance to win.”
To its credit, Copper Basin did not make things easy.
Almost half of the Cougars’ offensive damage took place early in the first quarter, with Abby Dillard and Tempi Hughes dropping consecutive buckets in response to a foul call moments after the opening tip, which had sent Snowbird’s Natalie Swimmer to the line in a 1-for-2 effort.
The Lady Cougars tacked on another point after Morgan Athens made a free throw – and that was the moment the Lady Warriors locked in on the task at hand.
“The good thing about this team is they don’t look at the scoreboard,” Jones said. “They know when they make a mistake, but they’re really positive.”
Swimmer collected a basket and 3-point play down the stretch of the first to pull ahead 6-5. Point guard McKynlee Adams hit the only field goal of the second, with just one Copper Basin foul shot aiding its cause before the break.
The Warriors began to pull away in the third. Emily Jones carried her solid defensive work over from the first half by pulling down two more of her 10 rebounds, with Swimmer completed another 3-point play and Adams found the inside of the net from the paint.
Copper Basin simply could not keep pace and suffered greatly when both Morgan (third quarter) and Makenzie Athens (fourth) fouled out, removing two of the Cougars’ main guns on the floor.
Swimmer found the basket twice more in the final stanza, while Adams posted another in the segment to seal Copper Basin’s fate.
“The pressure of being an undefeated team started to get to them,” coach Jones said. “I want them to enjoy it, but you’ll notice that after the game, they weren’t super pumped: that’s because I had reminded them we had already won the season and nobody could take that away.
“I told them to go out and have fun, because if you’re not having fun, what’s the point of playing?”
All told, Swimmer finished with a double-double: 13 points, 10 rebounds. She also had six picks in the victory, while Adams tallied six points, three rebounds, three steals and an assist.
In addition to her 10 rebounds, Jones also posted five steals and a block. Others contributing to the stat line were Ophelia Beasley and Alecia Garcia, who both had three steals and one rebound apiece; and Bently Lambert (one block, one steal).
Needless to say, Coach Jones is right to forecast a bright future for girls basketball in Graham County.
“I’m really excited about this group,” Jones said. “We started a travel season with these girls after the last youth season and I could see a lot of potential. (Coaches) Allison (Rogers), Holly (Jackson) and I just bounce ideas off each other so well; we see things that we need to work on here and there in different ways.
“Once we started the season, I knew we had something special.”
Other teams finishing their season Saturday were the Robbinsville Termite Black Knights, who upended Snowbird in the 3rd Place game 19-18, after Kyson Carpenter hit two foul shots in the closing seconds; and the Robbinsville Mite Black Knights, who scooted by Andrews 23-22.