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Ray Bradley (left) and Josiah Glaspie of Swain County High's varsity basketball team try and intercept the opposition at the Jan. 24 home game.Credit: Larry Griffin/SMT
Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Swain County’s Maroon Devils had a good night at basketball on Tuesday, Jan. 24, with the boys varsity team beating Robbinsville 71 to 67 and the girls varsity team beating them 43 to 33.
In another game on Friday, Jan. 27, the Maroon Devils beat the Hayesville Yellowjackets by a 55 to 46 score. The Lady Devils won 37 to 29.
Boys basketball coach Scotty McMahan said he was pleased with the outcome of their game against Robbinsville.
“It feels like the kids played really well,” he said. “Any time you can win a conference game is good. It’s tough to do. They were well prepared mentally.”
But he thinks, overall, that the team is getting to a good place.
“The last week and a half, it feels like we found something about ourselves,” he said. “We gel a little better than we did at the beginning of the year. I like where we’re headed. Beating Robbinsville and Andrews got our confidence up.”
A win against Hayesville Friday added to the momentum for the Maroon Devils, as the team couldn’t close them out last year.
Speaking about that game on Monday, McMahan still sounded optimistic.
“It was a big-time win,” he said. “Any time you can win on the road, it’s big. We’re definitely excited about it.”
The team also played the Nantahala Hawks on Monday (Jan. 30) and won with a score of 70 to 31.
Then they played the Murphy Bulldogs on Tuesday (Jan. 31), in which the Bulldogs won with a score of 70 to 66.
The next games will be against the Cherokee Braves on Thursday.
About the upcoming games, McMahan said he thought the team had a chance to keep improving.
“There are still things to improve on,” he said. “We have not reached what we’re capable of. We want to work on making more shots, improve our free throws. If it all starts clicking, we can improve even more.”
The Maroon Devils have a 10-11 record for the season overall and are fifth in conference with 4-5 record.