The Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders came tearing into Thursday's contest with 16 straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 31.3 points) and they left with even more momentum. They came out on top against Alcoa by a score of 66-54. Given Gatlinburg-Pittman's advantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee basketball rankings (they are ranked third, while Alcoa is ranked 37th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Maddy Newman was her usual excellent self, scoring 20 points along with six steals and five rebounds. She hasn't dropped below 16 points for 19 straight games. Another player making a difference was Maliyah Glasper, who scored 11 points along with five steals.
Gatlinburg-Pittman has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 19 of their last 20 games, which provided a nice bump to their 25-2 record this season. As for Alcoa, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 8-5.
Gatlinburg-Pittman didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 73-63 victory vs. Sevier County on the 9th. Alcoa has also already played their next match, a 59-49 loss against Maryville on the 9th.