Cumberland Gap hosted Pigeon Forge, December 9, for two game of varsity basketball action. The first game on the slate pitted the girls against one another. The teams swapped shots early and Pigeon Forge held a 11-10 advantage over Cumberland Gap with just under two minutes left in the first quarter. Pigeon Forge dropped a couple more shots before the quarter came to a close and held a 16-10 lead over the home team. Pigeon Forge started the second quarter strong while the Lady Panthers couldn’t get a shot to fall, that allowed the Lady Tigers to build a double-digit lead midway through the quarter. Cumberland Gap founded their stride and got a couple of big stops on defense and came slowly charging back. Jayla Bailey hit a cutting Hayden Beeler inside the paint to bring Cumberland Gap with six points and then the Lady Panthers got another crucial stop to end the first half. The score stood at 25-19 in favor of Pigeon Forge as the teams went to the locker rooms. Both teams came out and again started swapping baskets to begin the second half and with 2:25 left in the third quarter Pigeon Forge still held onto a six-point lead over The Gap but this time the score was 32-26. Pigeon Forger got another shot to fall but Emrey Glover answered with a three with 1:00 left in the third quarter. Pigeon Forge got an answer on their end as they hit a three late in the clock. Pigeon Forge still clung to a six-point lead over Cumberland Gap, 37-31, as the third quarter came to a close. Jayla Bailey got a basket inside and drew a foul to start the fourth quarter, but her free throw came up short. Pigeon Forge dropped in back-to-back three-point shots and held a 43-33 lead over Cumberland Gap with 5:55 left in the game. Pigeon Forge turned things on from that point on and were able to top Cumberland Gap by a score of 62-49. The Lady Panthers were led by Callie Hoskins with 15 points. Also scoring for Cumberland Gap was Emrey Glover with nine points, Jayla Bailey with eight points, Hayden Beeler with seven points, Gracie Nash with five points, Jenna Middleton with three and Brinkley Hollin with two. Pigeon Forge was led by Makaylee Stalcup with 22 points.
The Heartland Real Estate Player of the Game was Callie Hoskins. Congratulations Callie!
The final matchup was between the varsity boys. Pigeon took and early advantage, but Cumberland Gap worked back into things and tied the score up at seven on a three-point shot by Alex Douglas midway through the first quarter. Pigeon Forge reeled off nine straight before Isaac Brown was able to get a score inside just before the quarter ended. Pigeon Forge led 16-9 after the first quarter. Both teams opened the second slowly, but Cumberland Gap was able to answer a Pigeon Forge three with one of their own as Kolton Goins hit one with 4:45 left in the first half and a score of 19-12. Noah Yonts dropped in a floater for The Gap but Pigeon Forge answered with back-to-back three pointers. Pigeon Forge caught fire from that point due to foul trouble for The Panthers and were leading Cumberland Gap 36-15 at the end of the first half. Pigeon Forge had built the score to 50-24 after the third quarter. Both teams found their groove from three-point land during the fourth quarter but ultimately it was Pigeon Forge who walked out with a 68-45 victory over Cumberland Gap. The Panthers were led in scoring by Braden Ellison with 15 points, Alex Douglas added nine, Ethan Powell, Noah Yonts and Kolton Goins each added five, Isaac Brown had three, Devin Byrd added two and Kaleb Powers dropped in one. Pigeon Forge was led by Samuel Brackins with 22 points.
The Danny England Motors Player of the Game was Braden Ellison. Congratulations Braden!
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