Robbinsville handed first conference loss
Murphy – It certainly wasn’t the outcome the Lady Knights were hoping for.
In the first pairing between Robbinsville and Murphy on Tuesday night, the Lady Bulldogs simply outclassed the Knights in the second half – including holding Robbinsville to a mere six points in the third quarter – and handed the Lady Knights their first conference loss of the season, 54-48.
“I’ll just tell it like it is: they whipped our butts in the second half,” said Robbinsville head coach Lucas Ford. “We didn’t do a good job playing through adversity. I didn’t feel like we played well as a team.
“Our chemistry is off and until we fix that, we’re not going to win a ton of ball games.”
Robbinsville (4-2, 1-1) held the first-half advantage, with some excellent work all over the floor from Halee Anderson spearheading an eventual 24-19 halftime lead.
But Murphy (6-2, 2-0) came out of the locker room on a rapid-fire run to begin the third, quickly trimming the deficit and pulling ahead on a Calista Adams 3-point play at the 2:52 mark, which gave the Bulldogs a 32-30 nod.
Robbinsville continued to fight, however, later cutting the lead to 40-35 after Yeika Jimenez snagged a Murphy pass and chucked the ball to Desta Trammell, who drained a three with 4:30 to go. But the Lady Knights would not find the basket again until the final 60 seconds, when Trammell and Kensley Phillips both hit a pair of trey’s.
Sadly, the comeback bid began too late.
Trammell’s night ended with a team-best 19 points, while also grabbing one rebound, one steal and recording an assist. Anderson tallied 12 points, seven points, three steals and one assist, with Jimenez adding nine points, 10 rebounds, two assists and a steal to the final outcome.
Also scoring was Phillips 6 and Dallas Garrett 2.
Split bill
Tellico Plains, Tenn. – Leading the 4A Walker Valley (Cleveland, Tenn.) Lady Mustangs 46-44 with 12 seconds left in Friday’s tournament opener at Tellico Plains, all Robbinsville needed to do was thwart one last shooting attempt.
Sadly, a 3-pointer at the 2-second mark drained through the net for Walker Valley and the Lady Knights found themselves with no time to reply, as Robbinsville fell 47-46.
Trammell dropped 22 in the game, including a trio of trey’s in the first half. Others scoring for the Lady Knights were Anderson, Jimenez and Zoie Shuler with 6 each, Garrett 4 and Phillips 2.
Offense was not lacking in Saturday’s tango with the Copper Basin (Tenn.) Lady Cougars, as the Knights carved out a 29-point first quarter and cruised to a 60-15 victory.
Trammell again scored 22 to lead the Robbinsville offense. Also scoring was Shuler 9, Jimenez 8, Anderson and Delaney Brooms with 7 each, Phillips 5 and Fala Welch 2.
Junior varsity
Robbinsville (0-3) watched a 16-12, second-quarter rapidly deficit slip away in the junior-varsity opener in Cherokee County on Tuesday, as the Lady Knights fell to Murphy 58-21.
Memory Frapp scored seven points and also had six rebounds, two steals and an assist to lead Robbinsville.
Also scoring was Karlee Stewart 6, Helen Ward 3, and Haven Orr 2 and Tia Hall with 2 each.