PIGEON FORGE-The Newport Grammar School Lady Warriors used a potent second half defense to advance to the TMSAA Class AA East Sectional semifinals on Monday night.

Newport Grammar School dispatched Fort Loudon Middle School 35-22 to move into the semifinal round of the tournament, which is the state level competition for TMSAA sanctioned schools.

The Lady Warriors become the second girls’ basketball team from NGS to move into the Sectional semifinals, matching the feat of the 2005-06 Lady Warriors who won the tournament in an unbeaten season. The only other team to move into the semifinal round for NGS was the 2009-10 Warriors, which finished runner up in the event.

Newport Grammar broke open a tight game at the half with a smothering defense, which allowed Fort Loudon only two field goals over the game’s final 12 minutes of play.

“I felt like coming in, based on the scouting I did, that a big difference would be if we could stop them from getting into their offense, we could have the advantage,” Newport Grammar coach Steve Souder said. “It really paid off, especially in the second half.”

For the full story, see the February 5th edition of the Newport Plain Talk.