Daniel Tarwater

Sevier County downs Cherokees 83-51 in first round of Winter Shootout

BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEVIERVILLE – While Sevier County is severely limited due to injuries, from leading scorer Jett Sutton, to starting power forward Parker Newman, to defensive stalwart Roman Gibbons, among others, the Smoky Bears came out strong against South-Doyle on Friday afternoon. Sevier County took an early lead and never looked back, as the Smoky Bears shredded the Cherokees 83-51. South-Doyle played as tough as it could, given that Vito Henderson nailed six three-pointers, but it wasn’t quite enough to take down the Smoky Bears. “I don’t think we played to our capabilities today,” Sevier County coach Ken Wright …

Heritage Coker

Heritage blasts Warren County 73-36 in Winter Shootout to remain undefeated

BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEVIERVILLE – Heritage got off to a slow start offensively in the first round of the Winterfest Shootout on Friday afternoon, but quickly came into form as Carsyn Swaney led the way to a 14th consecutive win to start the season for the Lady Mountaineers with a resounding 73-36 win over Warren County (KY). The Lady Mountaineers quickly became too much for the Lady Pioneers, who never really found a way to pioneer a defender to stop Swaney, who finished the contest with 22. “We don’t want to beat people like that, so we got in that …

Gatlinburg-Pittman Christmas Classic Champions
Gatlinburg-Pittman: 2024 Smoky Mountain Christmas Classic Champions

Gatlinburg-Pittman uses second-half comeback to defeat Notre Dame and win Christmas Classic

BY BRIAN HAMILTON GATLINBURG – It looked as it Gatlinburg-Pittman was going to fade into the abyss after a three-point second quarter, which saw Notre Dame take a 7-point lead into intermission. The Highlanders would not go quietly into the night, however, as Gatlinburg-Pittman outscored the Fighting Irish 22-12 in the third quarter and 16-8 in the fourth quarter to win the Smoky Mountain Christmas Classic 56-45. “The problem was that we couldn’t make a shot,” Gatlinburg-Pittman coach Rashid Moore said. “We were like 1-for-12 from three at halftime and it didn’t get much better in the third quarter. Once …

Gatlinburg-Pittman
Gatlinburg-Pittman: 2024 Smoky Mountain Christmas Classic Champions

Lady Highlanders down Lincoln County 63-36 to win second straight Smoky Mountain Christmas Classic

BY BRIAN HAMILTON GATLINBURG – Many thought that this would be a very tough matchup for the Gatlinburg-Pittman. After all, the Lady Highlanders had to scratch and claw to get a tough 54-52 win over Moore County on Friday night. Many thought they would see a rematch of the GP-Cookeville championship game in the 2023 Christmas Classic. Lincoln County used hot shooting to thwart those plans and defeated Cookeville 69-56. The difference on Saturday evening was that Gatlinburg-Pittman’s threes were falling and the hot shooting from Friday night did not carry over for the Lady Panthers. The Lady Highlanders hit …

Gatlinburg-Pittman
Gabriella Cameron (22) goes up for a layup against Cordova in the first round of the Smoky Mountain Christmas Classic.

Lady Highlanders thrash Cordova (AL) in first round of Smoky Mountain Christmas Classic

BY BRIAN HAMILTON GATLINBURG – While Gatlinburg-Pittman may have been embarking on a defense of it’s 2023 Christmas Classic title, this team is much different than the one that won it a year ago. Last season, the go-to scorers may have been Maddy Newman, Leah Stinnett and Nya Burns, but all of those faces are gone now. This year’s version of the Lady Highlanders has seen three familiar faces step into new roles as dependable go-to scorers, and that is Maliyah Glasper, Addi Wear and Chloe Mejias. Maybe that’s the new ‘Big 3′ for this squad. All are juniors and …