BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEYMOUR – The King’s Academy advanced to its first regional semifinal in school history on Monday night, as the Lions jumped out to a roaring start and never looked back, pouncing on Grace Baptist Academy 78-36 in the regional quarterfinal. “We’ve never been this far,” King’s Academy head coach Sean Jones said. “I think our guys enjoy each other so much that they just want to win together. They just want to keep playing. They don’t care about anything else right now. When we set goals at the beginning of the season, it wasn’t that we were …
Smoky Mountain Sports Girls’ Top 10 Basketball Rankings (2/5)
Alcoa (24-2) Heritage (22-3) Gatlinburg-Pittman (20-5) Sevier County (20-6) Seymour (18-9) Northview Academy (18-8) Cocke County (16-9) King’s Academy (16-8) Maryville Christian (17-11) Morristown-West (14-10)
Smoky Mountain Sports Boys’ Top 10 Basketball Rankings (2/5)
William Blount (24-4) Alcoa (18-7) Gatlinburg-Pittman (18-5) King’s Academy (21-6) Carter (18-8) Maryville (16-10) Cocke County (16-9) Lakeway Christian (15-8) Morristown-East (12-9) Northview Academy (15-11)
TKA star guard Juleigh Anne Tucker signs with Asbury
SEYMOUR – The King’s Academy girls’ basketball team finished as state runner-up in Division II – Class A during the 2019-20 season, a season that ended with an incomplete for most squads, as the Covid-19 virus shut down all high school sports in mid-March. That year’s Lady Lions’ squad did have the opportunity to play out the season with a team that featured 2022 Class 4A Miss Basketball Jennifer Sullivan, who finished her career at Bearden, along with Bailey Burgess, who also transferred to Bearden. Standout post players Amelia and Ainsley Pfeiffer wound up at Alcoa during the 2021-22 season …
Historically bad shooting performance dooms Lady Kees in loss to Fulton
BY BRIAN HAMILTON KNOXVILLE – It might not be too rare to see a team go scoreless in the first quarter, but for a team to go scoreless in the first half and for almost three quarters, it is definitely a rarity. That’s what happened at Jody Wright Arena on Thursday night. The Lady Kees had multiple shots and layups that just seemed to either bounce or roll off the front rim. For most of the game, it appeared that there was some supernatural force diverting South-Doyle’s shots anywhere but through the net. Credit Fulton’s swarming defense just as much …
