Bearden-Maryville

Bearden earns state tournament berth with hard-fought win over Maryville

BY BRIAN HAMILTON KNOXVILLE – Bearden and Maryville both played up to the standard of state tournament teams all year, but when the Rebels were upset last Thursday night in the region championship by Sevier County, that changed everything. It sent Maryville, as the region runner-up, to Bearden on Monday night for a matchup that featured two teams with a combined five losses on the season — the type of game you usually see in Murfreesboro. “It was unfortunate that it ended up being that way and a lot of the crime committed there was the TSSAA aligning us like …

TKA-Providence

Lady Lions fall behind early, come up short in fourth straight final four

BY BRIAN HAMILTON CLARKSVILLE – The King’s Academy had been here before. The Lady Lions defeated this same Providence Christian team 57-36 in the Class A state semifinals in 2025. The team and its fans felt that this would be the year to finally climb over the hump and cut down the nets for a state championship. Except it wasn’t. Things went awry for TKA early on, as the Lady Lions found themselves in a 15-0 hole late in the first quarter and never really recovered. TKA was able to whittle the deficit down to 11 in the third quarter, …

Gatlinburg-Pittman

Barton out-duels Unicoi’s Simmons, helps bring Highlanders first region crown since 2000

BY BRIAN HAMILTON GATLINBURG – When most folks were looking for a region championship game to attend Thursday night, it was hard to look past the matchup between Gatlinburg-Pittman and Unicoi County. This matchup featured two Class 2A Mr. Basketball finalists, in Jayden Barton from GP and Jackson Simmons from Unicoi. The game lived up to its billing, as Simmons started the game hot, scoring the first nine points for the Blue Devils. The Highlanders would push back and hold a second quarter lead before Unicoi opened the third quarter with a 13-1 run. At that point Barton took the …

Sevier-Morristown East

Bearettes overcome early deficit to defeat Morristown East for 5th region championship in six years

BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEVIERVILLE – The last two meetings between Sevier County and Morristown East were in the district and region championship games last season, with the Lady Hurricanes winning both. TSSAA realignment moved Sevier County to District 2, while Morristown East stayed in Region 1, and the two teams had not met since. Bearettes coach Jonathan Shultz said that he was eager for the possibility of this matchup once he saw the region tournament brackets. “When the (regional) bracket came out and we were both the 1-seeds, I saw that there was a good opportunity for us to try …

Gatlinburg-Pittman Middle School State Champions

Gatlinburg-Pittman Middle School girls celebrate state championship with net-cutting ceremony

BY BRIAN HAMILTON GATLINBURG – Last week, Gatlinburg-Pittman’s junior high girl’s basketball team held a net-cutting event to celebrate the team’s recent state championship, a 25-18 win over E.O. Coffman, which was played at Stewarts Creek High School in Murfreesboro. “It’s awesome, I’m not going to lie to you,” Gatlinburg-Pittman head coach Alex Bowers said. “It’s been awesome this week.” The week got even better for Bowers, as Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner and Gatlinburg City Manager Greg Patterson showed up to present the team with a proclamation, celebrating the hard work and success of the players and coaches. The Gatlinburg-Pittman …