Basketball Game Preview: Cherokee Chiefs vs. Cloudland Highlanders

The Cherokee Chiefs will take on the Cloudland Highlanders in a holiday battle at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

While Cherokee didn't have the best season last year (they finished 8-24), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They breezed past Happy Valley to the tune of 67-31 on Wednesday. The final result isn't all that surprising considering the Chiefs' considerable advantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee basketball rankings (they are ranked 60th, while the Warriors are ranked 324th).

Kenady Deal

Field Goal Percentage

12/16/25 vs Dobyns-Bennett	25%
12/04/25 vs Chuckey-Doak	33%
12/05/25 @ Daniel Boone	33%
11/26/25 vs Knoxville Central	48%
11/22/25 vs Fulton	52%

Cherokee found their leader in freshman Kenady Deal, who shot 89% from the field to rack up 23 points and four steals. Those 89% field goal percentage set a new season-high mark for Deal. Rylee Sivert was another key player, going 7-for-14 on her way to 16 points.

Cherokee was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. They are a perfect 9-0 when they've passed the ball that well.

Meanwhile, Cloudland had already won five in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 21 points) and they went ahead and made it six on Monday. They blew past the Warriors 51-26.

Cloudland's victory bumped their record up to 8-1. As for Cherokee, their win bumped their record up to 10-2.