Bearettes flex muscle against rebuilding Pigeon Forge

First-year Sevier County High School basketball coach Stacy Marine appears to have his Lady Bearettes in mid-season form, judging by the team’s performance Monday night against county rival Pigeon Forge. Sevier County was impressive, putting three players in double figures and using its full-court press to create a bevy of Pigeon Forge turnovers that led to the resounding 65-38 win in non-conference action at Sevier County High School. The Smoky Bearettes improved to 3-2 with the victory while the Lady Tigers fell to 0-3. The Smoky Bearettes, led by Jessica Tharpe with 16 points, never trailed against their over-matched county counterparts. After leading by just 15-10 after the first stanza, Sevier County settled into its disruptive pressure defense, unsettling the Lady Tigers’ young offense into turnover after turnover while pushing its advantage to 35-26 at the break. They Lady Tigers, led by veteran head coach Conchita Johnson, are experiencing some growing pains after losing a handful of big offensive contributors to graduation off last year’s district championship team that advanced to the sub-state. Pigeon Forge saw the home team’s advantage keep growing over the course of the second half, as Sevier County led 49-31 after three quarters before pulling away even further in the final minutes. Pigeon Forge managed just seven fourth-quarter points in the final period as the Lady Bearettes cruised to the 27-point final margin. Amanda Feeney had 13 points for the Smoky Bearettes and Amber Trail chipped in 10 points. Sevier County will face a much tougher challenge in the coming days as the Lady Admirals from farragut will visit Burchfield Gymnasium Tuesday to open conference play in District 4-AAA. Meanwhile, things won’t get any easier for the Lady Tigers when they face another formidable county rival Thursday when the 5-2 Seymour Lady Eagles visit PFHS. The Lady Tigers had seven different team members register in the scoring column Monday night, led by four different players with six points each.