Kaliyah Burden and the Sevier County Bearettes knocked off Cookeville in the 2026 Class 4A state championship game at MTSU’s Murphy Center on Saturday, March 14, in Murfreesboro (Photo by Danny Parker).
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — In today’s era of basketball, where step-back 3s, convoluted dribbling combos and highlight reel plays rule supreme, the Sevier County High School girls’ basketball team showed this week that defense, rebounding and well-executed game plans can still win championships.
After toppling nationally ranked and previously unbeaten three-time defending champion Bradley Central in the quarterfinals and after mashing the mute button on an explosive Blackman team in the semifinals, the Bearettes pitched another defensive gem in the TSSAA Class 4A state championship game at the Murphy Center against a 30-win veteran Cookeville squad.
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State tournament MVP and junior standout Kaliyah Burden scored 24 points, added 13 rebounds and dished out six assists, helping the Bearettes construct a 28-point lead early en route to Sevier County winning its first state title since 2002 with a 61-43 victory over Cookeville.
“It’s a really great feeling, being here with all my teammates. Our student section, they were great and brought lots of energy. Our coaches. It’s just really special we get to hang another banner and continue this tradition,” Burden said. “Hopefully, definitely, be back next year. I just love it. I love this team, and I wouldn’t want to come out here and play with anybody else.”
Sevier County (29-5) denied Cookeville (30-5) its first championship in its first-ever finals appearance.
The Bearettes finished the season on a 16-game win streak and will return everyone who got in the boxscore Saturday for the Bearettes for the 2026-2027 title defense attempt. Cookeville will graduate four senior starters.
Maggie Townsend (eight points), Hannah Madison (13 points, eight rebounds) and Aubree Thompson (12 points) joined Burden on the all-tournament team.
Sevier County’s wins this week came by 18, eight and 18 points, respectively.
On Saturday, Sevier County shot 43 percent in the win against Cookeville — scoring 34 points in the paint — and won the rebounding battle by an astounding 43-20 margin.
“The girls bought in 100 percent. Coaches worked really hard. Hats off to them to help us be prepared so the girls could perform,” Sevier County coach Jonathan Shultz said. “We knew we were facing a different game today than the previous two, but we stuck the zone defenses and mixed it up.
“It takes them buying in and executing. We can only tell them what we think will be successful. The fact that they bought into ‘if we rebound, there’s not a lot of teams that can beat us’ — we’re a pretty small team for a 4A high school, in terms of stature. But these girls played huge.”
SEALING THE WIN
Burden scored 15 points and grabbed eight of the Bearettes’ 22 rebounds in the first half, as Sevier County limited Cookeville to 20-percent shooting and just 10 rebounds while building a 27-13 lead.
But while the Bearettes huddled at the bench before the third quarter began, Sevier County sophomore forward Hannah Madison stayed on the court, working on her post moves.
It paid off.
Madison scored three times, going on a personal 7-0 run, in the opening 1:13 of the third to put Sevier County ahead 34-13.
Then her teammates got in on the offensive fun.
Aubree Thompson drained a 3 for a 38-16 lead, and Burden got a steal and score for a 40-16 lead by the 5-minute mark of the third.
Thompson sank another 3 from the top of the key with 4:30 left in the third to push the advantage to 43-19.
Maggie Townsend added consecutive 3s, and the Bearettes rolled to a 49-21 lead with 2:56 remaining in the quarter.
A 13-2 Cookeville run to close the quarter trimmed Sevier County’s advantage to 51-34.
Still, with 4 minutes left in the contest, Sevier County led comfortably, 54-38. Burden drove and scored with 3:30 to play for an 18-point cushion.
Cookeville cut it to 13 points with just under 2 minutes to play, but Brylee Valentine’s two foul shots with 1:42 remaining bumped the lead back to 15.
On the ensuing trip down for Cookeville, Burden blocked a shot and the ball fell out of bounds on top of a Cookeville player who’d fallen, giving the possession back to Sevier County.
Madison took advantage, scoring in the post for a 60-43 lead.
“I knew in the first half I wasn’t making the shots, and I had to come out in the third quarter and second half and put those easy layups in,” Madison said. “And get our team going down low.”
FIRST HALF
Sevier County led by 14 at the break. In the early going, it got its offense going by spreading the floor and patiently working the ball around until Burden got isolated into the post against her defender. Once the ball found her hands, she went to work. She scored six points in the opening eight minutes.
Cookeville senior guard and leading scorer Cara Lee Gilbert, who scored 24 points in a semifinal win over Bartlett, rolled her left ankle during the descent of a jumpsuit at the 2:57 mark of the first quarter, and she was helped off the floor. Neither team managed to seize momentum during the final 2:57 of the first quarter, each scoring six points in that span to reach the second quarter tied at 10-all.
However, Sevier County got two transition layups (Aubree Thompson, Burden) in the opening minute of the second quarter to build a 14-10 advantage. Burden’s drive-and-dish to Maddie Hawkins gave the Bearettes a six-point lead with 6:11 before the break.
Sevier County led by eight when Gilbert checked back in with 5:43 left in the second quarter but exited again at the 2:13 mark, unable to get shots up as she typically would. Burden scored promptly after Gilbert’s departure for a 21-13 lead and added two made foul shots with 1:27 left in the break to stretch Sevier County’s lead to 10 points (23-13).
Conversely, Cookeville struggled at the foul line in the first half, making just 2 of 10.
Sevier County went 9 of 12 at the foul line, and Thompson made two with 8.1 seconds left in the second quarter for a 27-13 lead.
In quarterfinals and semifinals combined, Sevier County defense limited Bradley Central (32-1) and Blackman (29-4) to 25.9 percent shooting from the floor, including a 4-for-32 (12.5 percent) clip from the 3-point line.
Cookeville shot 20 percent Saturday in the first half and made 3 of 7 from 3 before the break.
Those percentages spiked some in the second half — but not enough.
“We heard all week about how great their zone was and we got to see it first hand today,” Cookeville coach Jamie Gillies said. “You know, No. 2 (Burden) on the top of that zone, they’re big and they get out and get after it.
“Once you get down to a good team like that, it’s hard to claw back.”
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