Murray lifts Dreher girls over South Pointe

Dreher’s Jhileiya Dunlap and Kamryn Lemon found themselves in an unfamiliar spot Thursday night – on the bench.

Dunlap, the Class 3A Player of the Year and Lemon, the team’s starting point guard, were relegated to spectators with foul trouble against South Pointe. But Jaelynn Murray and the rest of the Blue Devils picked up the slack in the 63-45 victory over the Stallions in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs.

The top-ranked Blue Devils (24-1) will travel to No. 8 Eastside on Monday, with the winner advancing to the Class 3A Upper State final.

“Everybody had to play some really big roles in this game because our two other starters were in foul trouble,” Murray said. “The bench had to step up, and I had to step up and play point guard, something I have never done before, but my team needed me.

“But this shows everybody has to step up at certain times, and you can’t just depend on two people to play because it takes everybody.”

Murray finished with a game-high 21 points as she played without Dunlap and Lemon, the other two members of Dreher’s big three, for most of the second half. Dunlap and Lemon each picked up their fourth fouls late in the first half and didn’t return until 4:36 left in the fourth quarter.

Dunlap and Lemon’s absence not only hurt Dreher’s scoring production, but also the team’s ability to use its full-court press. Because of that, Blue Devils coach Teresa Jones was relegated to play more zone defense in the second half.

With only eight players dressed because of injury, Jones thought about bringing her two stars back earlier as the Stallions cut the Devils’ 17-point lead to 50-41 at the end of the third quarter.

But Eboni Jones hit a 3-pointer to begin the fourth quarter and the Blue Devils used an 11-0 run to regain the momentum. Dreher held the Stallions scoreless for the first six minutes of the quarter. Murray had six points during that stretch, and Kaleah Hires, who left the game briefly with a leg injury, had a layup and pair of steals during that stretch.

Christina Praylow also had six points off the bench in the second half.

“I learned that we can persevere when the bench is called on,” Jones said. “Even though they haven’t played a lot of big minutes, they stepped up, proved they wanted to win, and we worked as a team even with Jhileiya and Kamryn on the bench. That tells me a lot about our character.”

Lemon finished with 14 points, all in the first half and Dunlap, the North Carolina signee, finished with eight. It was the first time since Dec. 9 that Dunlap was held under double figures in a game this season.

T’Kaja Williams led South Pointe with 16 points.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 11:03 PM with the headline "Murray lifts Dreher girls over South Pointe."