BY BRIAN HAMILTON
SEVIERVILLE – South-Doyle had barely finished their pop-tarts and coffee before the Bearettes had jumped down their necks in a 10 a.m. tip Friday morning. Sevier County scored early and often, en route to a 75-19 thumping of the Lady Kees.
“We always want all the teams to have a good experience,” Sevier County coach Jonathan Shultz said of the Winterfest Shootout tournament. “We want to bring in some big-time competition. We’ve got several teams in from out of the area who we don’t get to see very often and that’s what makes it neat.”
South-Doyle is approximately 24 miles from Sevier County High School and this was not the ‘good experience’ that the Kee’s were looking for after finishing their Hardee’s breakfast on Friday morning.
Sevier County jumped out to a commanding 14-2 lead in the first quarter before Payton Rollins scored a basket and converted an old-fashioned three-point play to trim the Bearettes’ lead to 14-5 with 2:18 left in the opening quarter.
Sevier County’s Mandy Saunders (44) goes up for a basket against South-Doyle’s Catie Luster (44). Photo by Brian Hamilton
A pair of baskets by Mandy Saunders and Aubree Thompson would push the Sevier County lead to 18-5, which was where the score would stand after the first quarter.
The Bearettes came out strong in the second quarter, as Cybil Penland scored two consecutive layups to take a 24-5 lead with 6:18 left. Kenzie Allen then drained a three to push the Sevier County lead to 27-5, which was followed by a Thompson triple to make the score 30-5. By that point, the Bearettes had embarked on a 16-0 run, dating back to the first quarter.
Rollins finally stopped the bleeding for South-Doyle, as the sophomore guard sank two free throws to cut the Kees’ deficit to 30-7.
Sevier County would punch back with another run of 10-0 to end the first half, as Kaliyah Burden drained a three from half-court to send the Bearettes to the half with a 40-7 advantage.
South-Doyle failed to convert a basket from the field in the second quarter, as Rollins’ two free throws were the only points the Lady Kees had in the period.
“I was proud of the girls’ defensive effort,” Shultz said. “I think that our pressure got to them and there were probably a lot of those possessions where they didn’t cross half-court, which makes it easier. Our zone can be pretty tough to score on at times and we have held some pretty good teams into the 40s and 50s.”
Maggie Townsend nailed a three to open the third quarter, giving Sevier County a 43-7 lead, but Rollins would answer with a layup to make the score 43-9. Burden scored a layup to give the Bearettes a 45-9 lead, but Rollins would once again answer with a layup to pull South-Doyle to within 45-11 midway through the third quarter.
Townsend would hit a floater to push the Sevier County lead to 47-11, which was followed by a hoop-and-harm by Penland to make the score 50-11 with 3:51 left in the third.
Kenken Gadison sank a three for the Lady Kees to make the score 54-14 with 1:15 left in the third, but Sevier County would take a commanding 59-17 lead into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter would begin with a running clock and Hannah Madison basically took over the final stanza, as the freshman made the most of her minutes, scoring nine points off the bench, as Sevier County went on to advance to the semifinals of the Winterfest Shootout with a 75-19 win.
The Bearettes were extremely balanced in scoring, as Cybil Penland, Kaliyah Burden and Aubree Thompson each led the way with 11 points apiece. Hannah Madison came off the bench to score all nine of her points in the fourth quarter.
“Really, I think that’s going to be the key for us,” Shultz said regarding scoring balance. “When we get into the postseason, we will need to find the third, fourth, and fifth girl who can score, because we’ve had that the last couple years. We’ve never been a team that is a one-girl show where one person would adverage 20-plus points. We’ve relied on multiple people scoring and not knowing who’s night it was going to be.”
Payton Rollins led South-Doyle with 11 points, while the next highest scorers were Veda Farr and Derkendria Gadison with three points apeice.
Sevier County (11-3) will face Lipscomb Academy (10-0) in the semifinals of the Winter Shootout at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 28.