Gatlinburg-Pittman Middle School State Champions

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 …

The King's Academy

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 Highlanders use hot start to rout Pigeon Forge, win district championship

BY BRIAN HAMILTON GATLINBURG – The Class 2A District 2 championship has gone through Gatlinburg-Pittman and Alcoa the last four years, but with Alcoa moving to 3A, there was room for a new challenger. This year the championship game featured a new participant, as Pigeon Forge defeated Cumberland Gap in the semifinals to advance to the title game. Gatlinburg-Pittman wasted no time in claiming its fourth district title in five years, as the Lady Highlanders jumped out on Pigeon Forge early, building a 21-3 lead en route to a 73-38 win. The win earned Gatlinburg-Pittman its second consecutive district title. …

WSCC-Pellissippi State

Griffin sets all-time scoring record in win over Pellissippi State

BY BRIAN HAMILTON KNOXVILLE – Terryauna Griffin was back in her hometown of Knoxville on Wednesday night, where she needed only one point to clear the 1,000-point threshold and nine points to set the all-time scoring record at Walters State. Griffin hit 1,000 early in the first quarter on a jumper and she would break the scoring record on the first play in the first quarter when she stole the ball and took it for a layup. “Clearly, for the program and for her, it’s great,” Walters State coach Jasmin Coleman said after the game. “You work hard and Griff, …

Walters State-Dyersburg State

Lady Senators thrash 2nd-place Dyersburg behind Griffin’s 38 points

BY BRIAN HAMILTON MORRISTOWN – Walters State dominated second-place Dyersburg State 80-41 on Saturday afternoon, as Terryauna Griffin torched the Eagles for 38 points, to give her 999 for her career. She is now only nine points away from breaking the all-time scoring record at Walters State. “I just talked to them (in the locker room) about all the roles that everybody has to have,” Walters State head coach Jasmin Coleman said. “Everybody will look at Griffin and see 38 points, and that’s great, but they don’t see Anaya Mulholland-Natt, who has held every leading scorer on every team, including …

Seymour vs Austin-East Girls

Tidwell lifts Lady Eagles over Austin-East on layup with 3 seconds remaining

BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEYMOUR – The game was tied at 56-56 with under 20 seconds to go with third-place in Class 3A District 3 hanging in the balance. That’s when Seymour’s Bailey Tidwell took a handoff from Kali Fisher and drove down the lane for a game-winning layup with three seconds remaining, giving the Lady Eagles a crucial 58-56 district win over Austin-East. “It was huge,” Seymour head coach Lindsey Koeneman said after the win. “We talked about how important this game was and how important our defensive effort was going to have to be. We were going to have …

TKA vs Grace Christian

Lady Lions suffer difficult loss to Grace Christian in district semis

BY BRIAN HAMILTON KNOXVILLE – The King’s Academy swept Grace Christian in both regular season meetings and throughout most of the game, it looked as if the Lady Lions were going to take a third game from the Lady Rams, but Grace Christian hit big shots in the fourth quarter, while TKA went cold for much of the period, falling in the district semifinals by a score of 54-51. “We just had some mental letdowns and they hit some big threes and we’ve got to respond,” TKA head coach Dante Turnipseed said after the game. “We say that basketball is …

Sevier County vs Cocke County

Bearettes mount fourth quarter rally to snap Cocke County win streak

BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEVIERVILLE – Sevier County defeated Maryville on Monday night to win Class 4A District 2 and followed that up on Tuesday night by mounting a furious fourth quarter rally to take down a Cocke County team that was ranked in the top-5 of Class 3A. The Bearettes trailed by three at the end of every quarter, except for the last one, coming away with a convincing 47-40 win. “They’re a really good team, so when you have the opportunity to make a play, you’ve got to make it, and in the fourth quarter, girls stepped up and …

Maliyah Glasper

Lady Highlanders overcome fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Northview Academy 62-56

BY BRIAN HAMILTON GATLINBURG – The Lady Highlanders trailed by nine points at halftime and whittled away at that deficit all third quarter. Gatlinburg-Pittman trimmed that deficit to four after three quarters and finally took the lead and control of the game early in the fourth, to win 62-56. “I thought, other than the second quarter, I thought we played a pretty good game,” Gatlinburg-Pittman head coach Katie Moore said after the game. “I thought we kinda fell apart in the second quarter and got out of our system, started fouling some. Northview is a very good team, so you …

Smoky Mountain Sports Girls Basketball Top 10 Rankings (2/8/26)

Cocke County (24-3, 9-0 Class 3A District 3) Bearden (23-3, 11-0 Class 4A District 4) Gatlinburg-Pittman (21-3, 6-0 Class 2A District 2) The King’s Academy (22-7, 11-2 Division II, Class A East Region District 1) Alcoa (19-6, 8-0 Class 3A District 5) Sevier County (14-5, 4-0 Class 4A District 2) Northview Academy (18-4, 6-2 Class 3A District 3) Morristown East (19-6, 5-2 Class 4A District 1) Heritage (21-5, 6-2 Class 3A District 5) Farragut (17-9, 9-2 Class 4A District 4)