Sevier County programs continue to struggle

Both visiting basketball teams from Sevier County were recipients of an ungracious welcome--at least on the basketball court--Friday night at District 4-AAA foe Heritage. Both first-year head coaches in charge of taking over the Smoky Bears and Smoky Bearettes’ basketball programs are finding victories hard to come by in arguably East Tennessee’s toughest basketball conference. Stacy Marine’s Smoky Bearettes were not match Friday for the red-hot Lady Mountaineers from Heritage. The 11-1 Heritage squad was never in any danger during the 67-46 Lady Mountaineers’ win. Longtime Sevier County girls head coach Gene Huskey was in the bleachers supporting Marine and his former club at the Heritage gymnasium. The Smoky Bears did not just lose a veteran head coach who had led the team to a state championship in the past decade, the Bearettes also lost at least two big time players from last year’s squad. All-Conference post player Jacqilyn Kremer, Sevier County’s leading scorer and rebounder from last year, graduated. Point guard Cathy Uner, a lightning quick floor-leader, opted not to return to the basketball team after a breakout freshman season a year ago. Needless to say, Marine and this year’s Smoky Bearettes, are taking their lumps. After an impressive season-opening win over Alcoa, the Bearettes seem to have remembered what they lost last year, and have in turn, dropped six-straight contests. The Smoky Bearettes are scheduled to participate in a holiday tournament in Kentucky beginning two days after Christmas. The boys basketball program at SCHS is also reeling under its first-year head coach, veteran Ken Wright. The Smoky Bears, who fell 66-63 to Heritage Friday, returned an athletic group of seniors back from last year’s team that finished around .500 on the year. Wright took over in the off-season after former head coach Mike Coppinger made his departure under controversial circumstances following last year’s campaign. Wright, a former coach in Georgia, and most recently county-rival Gatlinburg-Pittman, took the reigns of the county’s highest profile basketball program during the off-season. After starting 4-1 this season, the Smoky Bears were clipped by county-foe Pigeon Forge in a heartbreaker at home. The talented Smoky Bears have not tasted victory since. Pigeon Forge, by the way, is coached by Mike Wright, who is Ken Wright’s son. The younger Wright has the Tigers unbeaten as the team heads into the holiday season. Since dropping the game to Pigeon Forge on November 29, the Smoky Bears have lost six straight, including five district tilts, and are dangerously close to falling out of district title consideration before Christmas. After falling behind by double-digits in the first quarter Friday against Heritage, the Smoky Bears rallied behind senior James Feezel’s 29 points to make it interesting, but failed to pull it out in the end. The Smoky Bears are slated to face non-district Jefferson County early this