Kayle Yates and the Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders faced the Scotts Hill Lions in a TSSAA Class 2A state tournament quarterfinal at Murphy Center on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Gatlinburg-Pittman girls won. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO – The first win in Gatlinburg-Pittman girls’ basketball history was hard-fought. The second, not so much.
The Lady Highlanders had little problem with the early tip-off time Tuesday morning at MTSU’s Murphy Center nor did they have any difficulty in Scotts Hill.
Leah Stinnett scored 20 points with four rebounds and four assists to lead the way. Fellow sophomore Maddy Newman added 12 points, nine boards and four blocks, as Gatlinburg-Pittman shot 46.2 percent and routed Scotts Hill 68-32 in a Class 2A state quarterfinal.
“I thought the girls did a great job of adjusting to the (arena) background (behind the goals). They shot well. Came out on fire,” said G-P coach Katie Moore. “Overall, I don’t think we could have asked to shoot better than we did today.”
Gatlinburg-Pittman (28-9) will play again at 4:30 p.m. Central time on Thursday in a 2A semifinal against York Institute (27-6).
Entering play this week, G-P had but one state tournament win to its credit: a 54-51 win over Westview in a 2017 quarterfinal.
But they added to that lone victory with ease Tuesday.
G-P led 40-13 at the half over Scotts Hill (21-9), shooting 48.5 percent from the floor before the break while out-rebounding Scotts Hill, 21-12.
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Scotts Hill didn’t show the form it had before arriving at state. It did little resemble a team that had won its state sectional by 33 points nor the club that won nine of 10 before facing G-P; rather, it shot 25 percent in the first half, turned the ball over 10 times and didn’t make a single 3.
The Lady Lions finished with 19 turnovers.
“The biggest thing we saw on film (of Scotts Hill) was that no one we saw against them really put any pressure on the ball very well,” said Moore. “And I think that’s something that helped us tremendously.
“We were changing defenses and they couldn’t handle our ball pressure, which led to some transition points for Maddy. Then you could tell they were definitely trying to stop Maddy, and that opened things for Leah, Lily (Stinnett) and Kayle (Yates) on the perimeter.”
The start couldn’t have been any better for G-P, as Newman’s bucket at the 3-minute, 12-minute mark of the first quarter gave the Lady Highlanders a 10-2 lead.
Leah Stinnett’s transition layup at the buzzer made for a 23-6 lead after the first eight minutes.
And G-P didn’t let its foot off the pedal. It stayed at NASCAR speed.
Shilah Whaley’s 3 with 4:21 left in the half capped a 9-2 run by G-P to start the second quarter. The Lady Highlanders led 32-8. Whaley finished with 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
Playing a game that started at 10 a.m. didn’t seem to faze the Lady Highlanders whatsoever.
“We got up pretty early today. Had some team bonding before breakfast to try and wake us up,” said Newman.
Well, it worked.
Not even in the second half, when the game was out of hand, did the Lady Highlanders stop executing.
Leah Stinnett’s 3 with just more than 5 minutes to go in the third gave G-P a 48-17 lead.
Yates added a 3 at the third-quarter buzzer for a 59-24 lead, prompting a running clock in the fourth because of the 35-point lead.
“At halftime, I told them they’d be the second team ever that made it this far,” said Parton. “But I don’t think it’s necessarily sunk in yet.”
5STAR PHOTOS: Gatlinburg-Pittman Lady Highlanders vs. Scotts Hill – March 8, 2022