Sevier County Bearettes Claim TSSAA 4A State Championship 61-43 Over Cookeville

In what will go down as one of the best defensive performance runs in state tournament history, the Sevier County Bearettes claimed the 2026 TSSAA Class 4A State Championship after knocking off Cookeville 61-43 on Saturday afternoon in Murfreesboro, on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.

Led by junior Kaliyah Burden who was named tournament MVP with 24 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals, the Bearettes stymied a veteran Cookeville team with team defense, proving the age old adage that offense wins games, but defense wins championships. The Bearettes turned away the Cookeville Lady Cavaliers in their first ever state championship game and claimed Sevier County's second school title, the first since 2002.

Sevier County ended the season 29-5 overall, and on a 16 game winning streak, including Thursday's upset of the then ranked #21 team in the nation, Bradley Central, and Blackman in their final four matchup. The Bearettes last trip to the state tournament was in 2024, at the time Coach Jonathan Shultz was suffering with a severe health issue and assistant coach Beth Ownby was leading the team. When asked about what it means to be able to experience this with his team Shultz said he felt "Extremely blessed, God is Good."

After the first quarter the Bearettes and Lady Cavaliers were tied at 10. Two quick transitional layups by Aubree Thompson and Burden to start the quarter was the spark that the Bearettes needed.

Maddie Hawkins would add another deuce off of a nice dish from Burden and the lead had grown to six. The Bearettes would keep their foot on the throttle and head into halftime with a 27-13 lead, eyeing their first state championship in 24 years.

The Bearettes would continue to score in the third quarter, paced by sophmore Hannah Madison who accounted for her own 7-0 run in the opening 1:13 of the quarter after she had stayed on the floor to work on her post moves as the team huddled before the start of the final half of play.

Following an Aubree Thompson three ball, along with a steal and layup from Burden the lead had sweltered to a 40-16 margin. Thompson would drop another three, followed by back to back bombs from Maggie Townsend that had the Bearettes out front 49-21 with close to 3 minutes remaining in the third.

Cookeville would then go on a 13-2 run in the closing minutes of the quarter to bring the Sevier County lead to 51-34 heading into the final quarter of play. Sevier County held a comfortable lead the remainder of the game but saw Cookeville cut it down to 13 with close to two minutes left in the game but that is as close as the Lady Cavaliers could manage to get.

The Bearettes finish the season as District Champions, Regional Champions, Sectional Champions and 2026 TSSAA 4A State Champions with a 29-5 overall record. Sevier County placed four players on the 2026 4A Girls All-Tournament team including: Hannah Madison (SO.), Maggie Townsend (JR.), Aubree Thompson (SO.), and Kaliyah Burden MVP (JR.).

The Bearettes only graduate one from the team this year, Reagan Thomas, who unfortunately suffered a season ending injury during the Dobyn's-Bennett region tournament game.

The Bearettes were led in scoring by Burden with 19, Thompson with 12, Madison chipped in with 10 points, Townsend with 8, & Hawkins with a lone basket ended with 2.

The 2026 TSSAA Bluecross Basketball Championship 4A Winning Sevier County Bearettes. Pictured (L-R) Hannah French, Brylee Valentine, Hannah Madison, Maggie Townsend, Reagan Thomas, Kaliyah Burden, Aubree Thompson, Addison Brewer, Maddie Hawkins, & Gemma Osborne. Photo courtesy of the TSSAA