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 knocked down big shots at big times for us,” Sevier County head coach Jonathan Shultz said.
Brookelyn Clevenger (00) goes up for one of her four first quarter three-pointers. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Due to inclement weather, Cocke County had not played a game in two weeks, and in their last contest, the Lady Red used a fourth quarter rally to defeat Northview Academy 48-37. In Tuesday night’s game, the opposite happened. Cocke County led by three entering the fourth quarter, but this time the Lady Red came out on the opposite end of the spectrum, getting outscored by 10 in the fourth quarter.
“Overall, we haven’t played in 14 days, so I was pleased with our effort, but we just need to execute better when we play really good teams and it got us a little bit tonight,” Cocke County head coach Boddie Bible said after the game. “You play these tough games to get ready for the postseason, and obviously, we’d like to have the W, but all of our goals are still in front of us — it was just a good game for both teams.
Brookelyn Clevenger gave Cocke County an early 3-0 lead with a three-pointer, but Sevier County’s Reagan Thomas answered with a triple on the other end to tie the game at 3-3 with just under six minutes remaining in the opening quarter. Clevenger then answered with another three to put the Lady Red ahead 6-3.
A layup by Hannah Madison cut the Bearettes’ deficit to 6-5 with 3:53 left, but Clevenger hit her third three-pointer to stretch the Cocke County lead to 9-5. A pair of free throws by Maggie Townsend would trim the Sevier County lead to 9-7 with 2:27 left in the quarter.
Cocke County then took a 12-7 lead when Clevenger nailed her fourth triple of the game, making her 4-of-4 from downtown with just over two minutes remaining in the first quarter.
“We were overcompensating to (Karmine) Carmichael inside and letting them throw that skip pass against the 1-3-1 (defense), so we didn’t play much of the 1-3-1 anymore,” Shultz said on Clevenger’s hot shooting in the first quarter. “We went to a different zone and played mostly man-to-man and just challenged the girls that they had to get out on the shooters and help whenever there was penetration and keep our feet on the floor, because they’re good around the basket, and for the most part, I thought we did that.”
Another basket by Madison would pull the Bearettes’ to within 12-9, but Karmine Carmichael made her first basket of the game with 1:33 remaining to push the Lady Red lead to 14-9. Madison would make another layup with eight seconds left in the quarter to trim the Sevier deficit to 14-11 at the end of the first period.
A three by Brylee Valentine would tie the game at 14-14 early in the second quarter and a layup by Kaliyah Burden would give the Bearettes’ their first lead, at 16-15, with just over five minutes left in the half.
Blake Clevenger split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 16-16, which was followed by a steal and layup by her twin sister, Brookelyn, which gave Cocke County an 18-16 advantage. Clevenger was fouled on the basket, but a lane violation gave the ball back to Sevier County with the Lady Red clinging to a 2-point lead.
Gemma Osborne was whistled for her third foul with 1:04 to play, sending Carmichael to the line. The junior split the pair of free throws to give Cocke County a 19-16 lead. The Lady Red missed a shot at the buzzer, but went to the half leading by three.
Sevier County’s Hannah Madison (24) pressures Cocke County’s Ellie Proffitt (11) during the Bearettes’ 47-40 win. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Sevier County’s Maggie Townsend opened the third quarter with a three to tie the game at 19-19, and another triple by Thomas stretched the Bearettes’ lead to 22-19 with 5:34 left in the quarter.
A pair of layups by Blake Clevenger and Ellie Proffitt put Cocke County back in front 23-22 midway through the quarter, but an easy layup by Burden would put Sevier County back in front 24-23 with 3:20 to go.
The teams continued to trade baskets throughout the third quarter, as Carmichael made a layup to swing the pendulum back to the Lady Red, at 25-24. Gemma Osbourne hit a layup and was fouled on the next Sevier County possession, but missed the free-throw, leaving the Bearettes with a 26-25 lead.
Blake Clevenger converted a pair of layups to put Cocke County back in front 27-26 with 1:15 left, but Burden answered with a layup to swing the lead back to Sevier with just under one minute to go.
Ava Wheeler nailed a free-throw line jumper to put Cocke County in front 29-28 with 20 seconds left, which was followed by Hannah Madison splitting a pair from the line to tie the game at 29-29 with 14 seconds left.
Wheeler had a good look from three at the buzzer, but air balled the attempt, but thankfully, Carmichael was under the goal and put it back up, while being fouled by Townsend. Carmichael converted the conventional three-point play to give the Lady Red a 32-29 lead after three quarters.
A rebound and put back by Madison cut the Sevier County deficit to 32-31, and a free throw by Osborne tied the game at 32-32 with 4:53 to play. Wheeler would answer with a pair of free throws to put the Lady Red back in front 34-32.
It was at that point that Sevier County began to take over the game. Layups by Madison and Thomas put the Bearettes in front 36-34 with just under three minutes remaining. A three by Aubree Thompson gave Sevier County a 39-34 lead with just over two minutes left and capped a 7-0 run by the Bearettes.
A pair of Wheeler free throws pulled Cocke County to within 39-36, but Townsend hit a three on the other end to give Sevier County a 42-36 lead with 1:21 to go.
Carmichael answered with a floater to make the score 42-38 with just over a minute remaining, but a pair of free throws by Thompson would stretch the lead to 44-38 with 48 seconds in the game.
Sevier County’s Kaliyah Burden (2) looks to attack while guarded by Cocke County’s Karmine Carmichael (23). Photo by Brian Hamilton
Reagan Thomas drew a charge on the other end, which gave Brooklyn Clevenger her fourth foul and all but ended the rally for Cocke County, as Sevier County went on to win 47-40.
“Credit to Sevier County, we didn’t execute well in the fourth quarter and they did,” Bible said. “They got a couple back doors on us and a couple open threes, and we weren’t able to convert.”
Cocke County’s Brookelyn Clevenger led all scorers with 13, in a losing effort, while Karmine Carmichael added 10 for the Lady Red.
Sevier County was led by Hannah Madison’s 11 points, while Kaliyah Burden finished with nine and Aubree Thompson and Reagan Thomas added eight apiece.
It was a heck of a night for Thomas, the Bearettes’ lone senior, as she made big shots and took a crucial charge late in the fourth quarter.
“Reagan is a though kid — she’s the only one that made it four years and stayed in the program,” Shultz said. “I’m proud of her and I’m glad that she got to have that kind of game on senior night — she deserves it.”
One of the biggest matchups of the game was between Sevier County’s Burden and Cocke County’s Carmichael, who defended one another for much of the game.
“That’s two really good ball players — two of the better players in East Tennessee — and it was a slugfest between the two,” Shultz said. “We rely on (Burden) so much. She’s our leader in scoring and assists, and tonight wasn’t the night for her to get the points, but she stayed in there and battled and made the plays, but it was fun to watch and see two girls that are really talented go against each other.”
The junior scored her 1,000th career point on Monday night against Maryville.
For Cocke County, the loss snaps an 11-game win streak, as the Lady Red (24-4, 9-0 Class 3A District 3) will look to bounce back on Thursday night at Seymour (8-15, 4-3 District 3).
“When you play good teams and you don’t execute, they expose you,” Bible said. “When you don’t set screens and you don’t do things the right way, they blow it up, and when you play bad teams, you get away with some of that stuff. It’s just teaching points, but our girls are resilient and they knew coming in that this was going to be a tough one on their home floor. Like I said, we play these tough games to get us ready for the postseason, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Sevier County (16-5, 5-0 Class 4A District 2) won their fourth game in a row, and will travel to Morristown West (11-12, 2-5 Class 4A District 1) on Thursday night.