Bree Stamper (#12), Lady Braves senior point guard, takes the ball to the hoop past Murphy’s Cassie Coker (#15) during a home game on Friday, Dec. 18. Stamper led Cherokee with 24 points as the Lady Braves won 87-62. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photos)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
ONE FEATHER STAFF
Cherokee’s point guards lit up the Charles George Memorial Arena against Murphy on Friday, Dec. 18. Bree Stamper, senior point guard, scored 24 points and Pooh King, junior point guard, had 20 as the Lady Braves (6-2) beat the visiting Lady Bulldogs 87-62.
The Lady Braves also got some big play from two freshmen guards, Tori Teesateskie and Carla Wolfe, who had 15 points apiece. Teesateskie caught fire early and hit three shots, including one three-pointer, in the first 80 seconds of the game to help give Cherokee an 8-0 lead.
“Offensively, I think we’ve been about as unselfish as we’ve been all year long,” said Chris Mintz, Lady Braves head coach. ”We made some very good passes and put a lot of pressure on them offensively and scored a lot of points.”
“Defensively, we weren’t that good tonight,” added Coach Mintz. “We gave them a lot of second-chance points, and our rebounding was just terrible tonight. We’re going to get better at rebounding. We’re short anyways so it’s something that we’re going to have to focus on all year long. We just have to keep getting better at it.”
After the early lead, Cherokee extended it to 14-4 at the 5:08 mark of the first period. After weathering the initial storm, Murphy settled in some and began to hit some shots and were within four (23-19) with a minute left in the period. Stamper hit a three-pointer followed by a short jump shot in the final minute and Murphy made two late baskets as the Lady Braves led 28-23 after the first.
Carla Wolfe, Lady Braves freshman guard, lines up for a shot in the second period. She ended the night with 15 points.
The teams exchanged baskets in the first few minutes of the second period, but Cherokee began to slowly extend its lead again. The Lady Braves led by seven points (34-27) at the 6:18 mark, by eight points (40-32) at the 3:34 mark and ended up taking a 10-point lead (50-40) into the locker room.
The Lady Bulldogs came out gunning at the start of the third period and popped in five quick points to make it 50-45. From that point though, Cherokee settled back in and began to put pressure up the court and went on a 16-6 run in the next few minutes to lead 66-51 with two minutes left in the third. The Lady Braves kept plugging and led by 17 (70-53) going into the fourth period.
The last eight minutes were all Cherokee as they went on an 11-4 tear early and led 81-57 midway through the fourth. That lead would extend to 30 points (87-57) with two minutes left, and they would take the win by 25 points (87-62).
Other Lady Braves scorers included: Macie Welch 2, LeLe Lossiah 8, Shelby Wolfe 1 and Jamie Lossiah 2.
Murphy’s scorers included: Hailey Thompson 6, Cameron Rice 2, Cassie Coker 11, Ellie Martin 1, Shelby Shore 12, Aubray Clapsaddle 13 and Emma Stroup 17.
To view or purchase photos from this game, visit: https://onefeather.smugmug.com/SPORTS/BASKETBALL/LADY-BRAVES-BASKETBALL-201516/Vs-Murphy-December-18/i-DLR8Zn8
