By Jackson Miller, Video Intern
The season has come to an end for the men’s and women’s Pellissippi State Community College basketball teams and, while the overall results were more mixed than one would hope, it’s only the beginning for a very young athletic program.
Despite the college being founded in 1974, Pellissippi State has only had a basketball team since 2024, and an athletics department since 2023. Surprisingly, it took that long for one of the most popular community colleges in Tennessee, but the school needed time to build infrastructure and get all the necessary funding. With that being said, let’s take a look at both the men’s and women’s overall records.
At the time of writing, February 23, with only three games left in the season, the men’s basketball team has gone 8-18 (8 wins and 18 losses) overall with a conference record of 6-11. As for the women’s team, they have fared better with a record of 11-13 (11 wins and 13 losses) and a conference record of 7-10. Despite the not-so-amazing records, it’s still promising to see Pellissippi State with a basketball team after all this time, especially since this is just the beginning for this program.
Without further ado, let’s break this season recap down, month by month, to see how both the men’s and women’s Pellissippi State Panthers did this basketball season!
Men’s Team
The men’s basketball team kicked off their season on November 1 with an 80-67 loss at Gadsden State Community College before bouncing back and winning their next two games in a row versus Union College JV and Dyersburg State Community College. Unfortunately, those would be the last games of the month they’d win, as they’d lose the next seven in a row. Despite this, the Panthers were good at keeping the games close, losing four of those games by 10 points or less.
December wasn’t any better, as Pellissippi State lost all four of the games, but two of those four losses were within 10 points. Despite the losses, Pellissippi State continued to improve and make games’ final scores close more often. January was a much better month for the Panthers as they had four wins and only two losses during the month. Some of those wins include home wins against Cleveland State Community College, Volunteer State Community College, and an away game vs Southwest Tennessee Community College.
On the flip side, Pellissippi State had one close loss versus Cleveland State with a final score of 75-72. While February was looking to be another solid month for Pellissippi State, it was sadly not the case, at the time of writing, February 23, they have gone 2-4 so far this month. It doesn’t help that one of the opponents Pellissippi State has faced off against is Walters State Community College, which has gone 26-1 and has beaten teams 175-65 and 136-39. Not only that, but Walters State is the 13th-ranked team in the country for the NJCAA D1 men’s basketball and has one of the best records in the state of Tennessee. In conclusion, the men’s basketball team hopes to end the season on a high note during these last couple of games and bounce back stronger next season.
Women’s Team
The women’s team also started the season on November 1 with a win against Gadsden State and ended up going exactly .500, which means they had exactly four wins and four losses through November. Both the men’s and women’s teams share similar schedules and end up playing the same teams throughout their seasons, most of the time even playing on the same day back-to-back. So, just like the men’s team, the women’s had only four games through December and ended up going .500 yet again with a record of 2-2, including a dominant win over Roane State Community College 94-45 on the 3rd. This game ended up being their best game of the season, scoring-wise, as well as one of their best defensive showings, with opposing teams scoring less than 45 points twice.
In January, the women’s team had similar success to the men’s team, going an identical 4-2 and moving to a record of 10-8 at the end of the month. Unfortunately, that high note came crashing down in February as the women’s team went 1-5 with close losses against Jackson State Community College and Volunteer State Community College. Not the same success as they were hoping but, overall, the team had a mostly positive outing this season.
Final Thoughts
Despite the mixed results on the season from both teams, the Pellissippi State Panthers gave it their all. It’s only their second year of having a basketball program and they will continue to improve as the years go on. As Pellissippi State will likely continue to grow in popularity, so will the interest in more athletic opportunities for students, which will likely mean a lot of success in the future for this young athletic program.
