BY BRIAN HAMILTON
KNOXVILLE – It’s only been a few weeks since Heritage lost Aleyah Smyth — a key contributor on the 2025 state title team — to an ACL injury that ended her high school career. The Mountaineers have rallied, despite losing their senior leader, having won 4-of-5 games since, heading into Friday’s district matchup at South-Doyle.
“It was tough the first few games,” Heritage head coach Rick Howard said of losing his senior guard. “Tonight, they played great together tonight and the chemistry was there. We’re not ready to peak yet, but we’ve got to just keep getting better and peak at the right time.”
Heritage’s Ivey Brewster (11) goes up for a layup while Hannah Knight (21) defends for South-Doyle. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Heritage came out strong and never let up throughout the game, winning 57-29. The only time where it looked like the outcome might be in question was midway through the third quarter when Howard called a timeout following a 7-0 South-Doyle run to open the period, making the score 29-22. Whatever was said in that timeout worked, as the Lady Mountaineers went on a 28-7 run to close the game.
“We went back to man-to-man and got out of that zone,” Howard said. “We just started hitting shots and pushing the ball. We got a lot of easy shots and we had kids step up. We’ve had two great practices this week and we hadn’t been practicing very good at all. We had a big pow-wow and talked about it and the last two nights they came out and practiced great, and it shows.”
The 29 points marked South-Doyle’s lowest scoring output of the year.
Heritage doubled up South-Doyle 18-9 in the first quarter, as Faith Morris scored nine points in the opening period and Payton Rollins scored six of the Lady Kees’ nine.
The Lady Mountaineers outscored South-Doyle 11-6 in the second period to take a 29-15 halftime lead. Morris had 13 points at the intermission. The Heritage lead could have been larger, but the Lady Mountaineers missed eight free throws in the first half.
“In the first half, we missed eight free throws and had seven turnovers,” Howard said. “We cut that back and we only had two (turnovers) in the second half.”
Payton Rollins (1) sets up the offense for South-Doyle while Katie Graves (24) defends. Photo by Brian Hamilton
The third quarter was a quarter of runs. South-Doyle opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to pull to within 29-22 with just under five minutes left in the period. That’s when Howard called timeout and the game changed for Heritage.
A pair of baskets by Lexi Tipton would stretch the Heritage lead to 33-22. Tipton then went 1-for-2 on a pair of trips to the foul line to give the Lady Mountaineers a 35-22 lead with 3:15 remaining in the third quarter.
A three-pointer by Grace Livingston, followed by a Tipton layup made the score 41-22, as Heritage capped a 12-0 run since calling timeout.
Sydney Adams hit a much needed three to end the South-Doyle drought and pull the Lady Kees to within 41-25 with 1:18 remaining. Another Adams three-pointer with three seconds remaining in the third quarter would make the score 41-28 after three quarters, as South-Doyle ended the period on a 6-0 run.
Two Lady Kees runs of 7-0 and 6-0, sandwiched between a 12-0 Heritage run basically left South-Doyle where it started the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was all Heritage, however, as the Lady Mountaineers outscored South-Doyle 16-1 in the period.
A layup by Tipton gave Heritage a 45-28 lead with 5:26 left, which was followed by a pair of free throws by Kenley Coker to stretch the lead to 47-28.
A Grace Livingston three, followed by a charging call on Rollins, and another basket by Livingston would stretch the run to 11-0 and give the Lady Mountaineers a 52-29 lead with 2:16 left.
South-Doyle would convert one free throw in the fourth quarter, as Heritage went on to win 57-29.
Heritage’s Faith Morris led all scorers with 20 points, while Lexi Tipton finished with 13 points, with 10 coming after halftime. Kenley Coker and Katie Graves added six apiece for the Lady Mountaineers.
Howard praised Tipton — who transferred from Carter this season — on her performance in the second half. Tipton will be one of several players tasked with picking up the void left by Aleyah Smyth for the remainder of the season.
“She’s been working hard,” Howard said of the junior. “She doesn’t know how good she can be. She’s getting better and better, and we had a long talk yesterday with her and told her to relax and just play basketball. She’s so athletic that she’s hard to guard. She’s a hard matchup and she proved that tonight.”
South-Doyle had only three players score during the contest. Sydney Adams led the Lady Kees with 12 points, while Payton Rollins and Hannah Knight added eight points apiece.
Heritage (19-4, 4-1 Class 3A District 5) will host Alcoa (16-6, 5-0 District 5) on Thursday, January 29 in a bout that will decide first-place in the district. South-Doyle (15-6, 2-3 District 3) will travel to William Blount (8-12) in a non-district contest on Tuesday, January 27.
“It’s a big game because it’s a district game — it doesn’t matter if it’s South-Doyle or who — it just keeps us a game behind Alcoa, and it we win, we’re tied,” Howard said. “It is what it is. Winning now is great, but you want to win when it counts, in that (district) tournament.”