The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams opened up their season on Monday night as they welcomed East Tullahoma to the CCMS gym. In a pair of games you heard here on Thunder Radio, the Raider teams split the 2 decisions with the visiting Panthers. In the girls’ game, the Lady Raiders routed East 65 to 20 while the Red Raiders’ 4th quarter rally fell short as they lost 35 to 28.
The Lady Raiders used a tenacious defense and an effective transition offense to get off to a red hot start. Coffee County scored 20 points in the first quarter and 18 more in the 2nd quarter to take a 38 to 10 lead into intermission. Nine different Lady Raiders scored in the contest led by Taylor Anthony who had 17 points. Olivia Vinson added 16 points while Bella Lawson and Natalie Barnes each netted 8 points.
The Red Raiders got off to an ice cold shooting performance in the 1st half as they trailed 14 to 6 at intermission. After falling behind by 9 points going to the 4th quarter, Coffee Middle cut the deficit to 2 points with under 2 minutes to play. East hit a big 3 pointer and forced a pair of turnovers down the stretch to escape with the win. Ethan Hargrove led the Raiders in scoring with 16 points. Brendon Shepherd and Cooper Reed each added 5 points.
Coffee County will be back in action on Friday when they travel to Winchester to take on North Franklin. That matchup will take place at Franklin County High School. The girls’ game tips off at 6 PM.
Download the broadcast at: www.thunder1320.com/downloads
