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, …
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 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 …
Big fourth quarter sends Lady Lions to fourth straight Final Four
BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEYMOUR – “I memorize the basics. Making strange faces. Tread slowly, for I know, there’s a thousand miles to go.” “This is the night, this is the sound. Here comes the warm machine.” The lyrics of the song “Warm Machine” by the alternative rock band “Bush” can resonate with most Lady Lions fans because this team has already been in the position of needing to win the region with a lower seed after losing the district semifinal to Grace Christian. Just one season ago, The King’s Academy lost in the district semifinals to Grace Christian and then …
Lady Cougars survive Austin-East comeback attempt, advance to district championship
BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEYMOUR – Northview Academy suffered a 60-53 loss to Austin-East back on February 10 and the Lady Cougars would have the opportunity to extract revenge in the district semifinals on Saturday night. Northview closed the first half with a 12-0 run and that proved to be just enough to hold off the pesky Lady Roadrunners in the end, as the Lady Cougars had to stave off a late comeback for a 52-48 win. “All season, we’ve said they are a really good basketball team and they’re going to be right there and they’re going to give themselves …





