Now the games start to mean just a little bit more.
Both Coffee County Central High School basketball teams begin postseason play this week (Feb. 14-19) – battling for a district crown and region tournament positioning.
All District 6-4A tournament games will be held at Shelbyville High School’s Rick Insell Gymnasium. Below is all the information you need for the week and the brackets.
Address: 401 Eagle Blvd. Shelbyville, TN. 37160
Admission: Cost of admission is $7 per day for adults, $3 for students. Tickets available at the gate.
Elimination: This tournament is a bit unique. Per TSSAA setup, the top 4 teams in the district tournament advance to the region. With the top two finishers hosting the third and fourth place teams from the opposing district and the third and fourth place finishers traveling to the top two teams in the opposing district. Well, District 6-4A only has 4 teams – so all teams will advance to the Region 3-4A tournament next week. But seeding will be important.
Lady Raider road to the title
Coffee County’s Lady Raiders are the top seed with a perfect 9-0 district regular season record. But that did not come without challenges, especially the third time through the district schedule. Shelbyville played Coffee County to a 1 point game while Warren County played the Lady Raiders to a 3 point game.
“When you play teams three and four times, it starts to get really hard because they know what to expect, they know what plays you are running,” said senior Lady Raider Elli Chumley. “We have to strengthen our game, and do what we do best. We are going to get everyone’s best shot (in the tournament).”
Coffee County will play Franklin County at 6 p.m. Monday. CHS beat Franklin County three times this season – 67-30, 69-33 and 68-44.
A win against Franklin County puts the Lady Raiders in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Friday and will guarantee they will play at home in the Region 3-4A tournament for the duration. The region tournament quarterfinals and semi-finals are elimination games. The region championship determines seeding for the state sectional. All region tournament semi-final games and championship games will be at Coffee County Central. The quarterfinal games will be at the highest seed.
A loss against Franklin County on Monday puts CHS in a tough spot. That will move the Lady Raiders to the third place game at 6 p.m. Friday and force them to travel to the no. 1 or no. 2 team in the Chattanooga area for the quarterfinals of the region tournament.
Red Raider Boys Road to the Championship
The Raider boys just missed out on the regular season title to Franklin County. But a tournament title would be even sweeter.
The Raiders 7-2 district record in the regular season is good enough for 2nd place. That means the Raiders will play no. 3 Warren County – tip at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
A win against the Pioneers puts the Raiders in the title game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and guarantees they will stay at home in the Region 3-4A tournament for the duration. A loss would put the Raiders in the third place game at 6 p.m. Saturday and means they will have to travel to the Chattanooga area in the region quarterfinals.
“We want that home game in the region – we want to be at The Patch in front of our fans, our student section and on our home floor. That is important to us,” said CHS head coach Andrew Taylor.
Beating Warren County in the opening round won’t be an easy task. The Raiders swept Warren County 3-0 during the regular season – winning 50-28, 50-38 and 50-46. You’ll notice Warren County closed the gap each game.
“Beating a team four times in a season is not easy, it doesn’t matter who you are playing,” added Taylor.
How you can hear the games
ALL Coffee County District 6-4A tournament games will be broadcast LIVE on Thunder Radio: 107.9 FM, 106.7 FM, 1320 AM and on the Manchester Go Smartphone app and thunder1320.com.
