BY BRIAN HAMILTON
SEVIERVILLE – Sevier County ran through a gauntlet of undefeated teams to win the Winterfest Shootout on Monday afternoon. The Bearettes were tasked with unseating 11-0 Lipscomb Academy in the semifinals (58-46) and then taking down 14-0 Heritage in the final.
“I’ve never been one who cares if you’re undefeated,” Heritage head coach Rick Howard said after the game. “I think you need to lose every now and then just to keep you honest and make sure your ego is down and know that somebody can beat you. That doesn’t bother me more than playing terrible offensively.”
The Bearettes were up for the challenge, as they controlled much of the championship game, leading most of the way, and handing Heritage it’s first loss of the year by a score of 46-40. The win also avenges a 56-51 loss to the Lady Mountaineers back on December 3.
Kaliyah Burden (2) battles the Heritage defense during the championship game of the Winterfest Shootout. Photo by Brian Hamilton
“We knew that we were going to have to handle their pressure,” Sevier County head coach Jonathan Shultz said. “They do a great job in the defensive half-court, so we knew we were going to have to step up and make shots. We did that and one of the main things going in was that we couldn’t have a third quarter like the last time we played them, when they just came out and really took it to us. I said it was going to take four quarters to beat a team this good and we’re getting to where we’re more consistent and are putting four quarters together more often.”
Scoring was at a minimum in the early going of the Winterfest Shootout Championship game. Carsyn Swaney would finally score on a layup midway through the first quarter to give Heritage a 2-0 lead, but Kaliyah Burden would hit a layup to tie the game at 2-2 with 2:42 left in the first quarter.
A short jumper by Swaney would give the Lady Mountaineers a 4-2 lead with just over two minutes left in the quarter. A three by Cybil Penland gave Sevier County a 5-4 lead with 1:09 left and a jumper by Burden would give the Bearettes a 7-4 lead after one quarter.
Chloe Heath hit a pair of free throws to cut the Sevier County lead to 7-6 early in the second quarter, but another three-pointer by Penland would make the score 10-6. A layup by Maggie Townsend would give the Bearettes a 12-6 lead midway through the quarter.
Heritage pulled to within 14-13 on a three by Heath, which was followed by a three by Swaney, which gave the Lady Mountaineers a 16-14 lead with 1:55 left in the first half.
Burden hit a layup with 1:14 remaining to tie the game at 16-16. Heritage led 19-16 when Brylee Valentine hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 19-19. The game looked to go into the half knotted at 19 apiece when Burden hit a half-court buzzer-beater to sent Sevier County to the locker room with a 22-19 halftime lead.
Penland hit a layup early in the third quarter to make the score 26-21 and a pair of free throws by Aubree Thompson stretched the Bearettes’ lead to 28-21 midway through the quarter.
A layup by Kenley Coker would trim the Heritage deficit to 28-23, but Penland would grab a rebound and putback on the other end to stretch the lead to 30-23. The senior followed that with a three to give Sevier County a 33-23 advantage with 2:34 remaining in the third quarter.
Valentine grabbed a steak and found Burden for the layup to make the score 35-23 with 38 seconds left in the third quarter, giving the Bearettes their largest lead of the game.
Emma Carswell missed two crucial free throws in the waning seconds of the quarter, but managed to grab a rebound and make the putback to send the Lady Mountaineers to the fourth quarter trailing 35-26.
Carsyn Swaney (11) goes up for a basket during the first quarter of the Winterfest Shootout championship. Photo by Brian Hamilton
A layup by Swaney would make the score 37-28 with 5:36 left in the fourth quarter. Coker made a layup to pull Heritage to within 37-32 with 4:18 left. The sophomore then split a pair of free throws to trim the Sevier County lead to 37-33 with 2:45 left.
Burden was fouled and made both free throws to extend the Bearettes’ lead to 39-33 and Heritage found itself trailing 40-33 with 1:27 left in the game.
Heath was fouled and converted the old-fashioned three-point play to pull Heritage to within 40-36. Katie Graves then hit a layup to make the score 40-38 with just under one minute remaining in regulation.
“They’re going to run traps and you’ve got to recognize it and keep your spacing and move the ball before the trap gets to you,” Shultz said of the Heritage comeback surge. “We did that, but we didn’t do it all the time, which sort of resulted in some of the turnovers and helping them get back in the game.”
Sevier County would salt away the game from the free throw line, however, as the Bearettes handed Heritage a 46-40 loss — their first of the season — and repeated as Winterfest Shootout champions.
“Last time (December 3), they came out in the third quarter and erased our lead and early in the fourth quarter they scored and took our lead, so we were the team playing from behind,” Shultz said. “Today, we played from ahead we were able to knock down our free throws at the end to sustain the lead.”
Cybil Penland led all scorers with 19 points, while Kaliyah Burden finished with 16. The Sevier County duo accounted for 35 of the Bearettes’ 46 points in the win.
Heritage was led by Chloe Heath’s 14 points, while Carsyn Swaney was held well below her scoring average, with only 11.
Heritage head coach Rick Howard offered no excuses about his team’s play after the Lady Mountaineers’ first defeat of the season. However, no one can blame him for licking his chops about a grudge match in Walland on Tuesday, February 4.
“We played a good team and we shot 27-percent and our studs, they had their bad game and they haven’t had one all year long,” said Howard. “You’ve gotta knock down some shots, and we didn’t, but they never gave up and never quit. If we had one or two of those layups at the end, we might’ve won. You know, as bad as we played, and we almost beat them on their home floor, it makes me feel pretty good about losing, and I hate losing.”
Sevier County (13-3) will host Hardin Valley on Tuesday, January 7, while Heritage (14-1) will be back in action on Friday, January when the Lady Mountaineers host county rival William Blount.