Cherokee – A home playoff game is still up for grabs for the Robbinsville Lady Knights, after finishing the regular season ranked third in the Smoky Mountain Conference.
The final stretch of games before the divisional tournament saw Robbinsville (15-7, 5-5) take 2-of-3: defeating Blue Ridge School on Feb. 7’s Senior Night and Swain County (17-7, 7-3) on Friday, but falling to a stout Cherokee (21-1, 10-0) team Tuesday night.
The Lady Braves dictated the tempo from the early going, opening up a 24-5 advantage in the first and forcing a running clock for the second half by sprinting to a 52-8 halftime lead. Robbinsville was held to single digits in all four quarters, with Cherokee’s aggressive, speedy defense and sharp shooting keeping the Lady Knights reeling throughout the final buzzer: in the record books, the Braves picked up a 92-23 win.
“The score doesn’t tell the story,” said Robbinsville head coach Lucas Ford. “Don’t get me wrong, Cherokee is a great basketball team – one of the best I have seen. But our girls played hard the entire game; no matter the score, they never quit.”
Senior Aubrie Wachacha led Robbinsville’s offense with 11 points, six rebounds and two steals. Liz Carpenter tallied five points, four rebounds and an assist, while Abby Wehr had five points, five rebounds and a steal. Bentley Riggins’ third-quarter putback rounded out the Knights’ scoreline.
Things were more favorable in Bryson City, where Robbinsville lit up the scoreboard in a 76-67 win over the Lady Devils.
“It was a great win for us and sealed up the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament,” Ford explained. “The first quarter was a back-and-forth battle until about the two-minute mark; we called a timeout and went diamond-and-1 on Marlee Hicks, who had hit three 3’s already.
“From that point on, we dominated the game in all phases.”
Wachacha recorded 22 points to aid the cause. Delaney Brooms posted 14, with Suri Watty dropping 13 on her former school.
Also scoring for Robbinsville was Carpenter 10, Wehr 8, Claire Barlow 5 and Riggins 3.
The Lady Knights sprinted to a 16-0 start against Blue Ridge (1-21) and limited the Lady Bobcats to just two first-half points in a 56-11 trouncing of the visitors.
Brooms led the crowded Robbinsville scoreline with 14 points, five steals, three rebounds and two assists. Others dishing the ball through the net were Carpenter and Wachacha with 8 each, Riggins 7, Wehr 5, Barlow 4, Memory Frapp 3, the tandem of Novie Dutcher, Olivia Lewis and Katie-Lyn Gross, 2 apiece and Maleah Cox 1.
Junior varsity
Robbinsville (8-4) wrapped up its JV regular season by taking down Swain County 39-24, before incurring a tough 41-35 loss to the Lady Braves.
Dutcher handled leading-scorer duties against the Devils, dropping 13 on the hosts. Ella McGuire put up seven, while both Cox and MyKayla McGuire had six each. Rounding out the scoreline was Gross 4 and Chasity Jones 2.
At Cherokee, the Knights overcame a 14-0 deficit in the opening minutes to cut the deficit to 16-15 in the second. Robbinsville was unable to knot the game up, as Cherokee went on an 11-2 run to pull away.
MyKayla McGuire paced Robbinsville’s offense with 10 points, seven rebounds, four steals, one assist and one block. Dutcher finished with nine points, seven steals, six rebounds and two assists; Cox recorded eight points, two rebounds and one assists.
Also scoring for the Knights was Gross 6 (11 rebounds) and Ella McGuire 2.