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Coffee County basketball got a head start on this weekend’s winter weather, traveling down to Lincoln County for a Class 4A District 6 doubleheader Friday afternoon.

The two teams once again split with their district foe but this time it was the Red Raiders who came out on top, defeating the Falcons 54-45 for their first district win. On the other side, the Lady Raiders dropped their first district game after a 3-0 start, falling 43-38.

Coffee County (18-5/3-1 district girls, 11-11/1-3 district boys) is scheduled to resume district play at home against Shelbyville Tuesday night. Start time of the girls’ game is slated for 6 p.m.

Red Raiders fleece Falcons

Coffee County came into Friday’s game at Lincoln County looking to bounce back from a 3-game skid, as well as from a 0-3 start to district play.

The Red Raiders did just that, overcoming a first-half deficit on the way to a victory  over the Falcons in Fayetteville.

“Defense and rebounding. Coach Holl had to scout and guys paid attention. We locked down what they like to do. Then with rebounding, we’d been struggling to score because we hadn’t had any second-chance opportunities and we went and got some on the glass,” Coffee County coach Andrew Taylor said of the victory. “Luke Campbell was huge, Brody Sizemore had big minutes and then MJ (Rollman) and Audie (Nicoll) were MJ and Audie, so it’s good to get that first district win. Now the next three out of four district games are gonna be at home, so hopefully we can build on this.”

Down 8-6 at the end of the first quarter, Coffee County briefly took control at the top of the second on a Kaysen Lowery 3-pointer. Lincoln County answered with a trey of its own to push back ahead and went on to finish the first half ahead 22-15.

The Falcons continued to push ahead as the second half got under way, opening the third quarter with seven unanswered points to put the Red Raiders in a 29-15 hole.  Momentum began to shift from there, with Coffee County going on an 11-point scoring run to cut the Lincoln County lead to 29-26.

A Lincoln County free throw temporarily halted the Red Raider advance, but Audie Nicoll drained a basket to cut the Falcon lead to two. Luke Campbell followed with a 3-pointer to put Coffee County ahead and ultimately send the Red Raiders into the fourth quarter up 31-30.

Coffee County did not trail Lincoln County through the game’s remainder on the way to winning by nine.

“It’s just confidence. When you take some L’s like we’ve been taking, it makes everybody’s confidence waver a little bit, but I think they’ve seen what they’re capable of doing,” Taylor added. “I think we can do what need to do. We defend, we rebound and we take care of the ball, make shots, we can play with these guys in our league.”

Campbell led the way with 20 points. Rollman followed with 18 points. Nicoll added seven points. Up next was Brody Sizemore with five points. Jerrad Morgan and Levi Rollman each had two points.

CHS girls come up short

Looking to move to 4-0 within the district standings, the Lady Raiders found themselves in a fight early on.

Trailing Lincoln County 13-8 after the first quarter, Coffee County opened the second by tying it at 13-13 before the Lady Falcons nailed a 3-pointer to retake the lead. The Lady Raiders answered right back with a free throw and then a 3-pointer from Hayleigh Harris to take control at 17-16.

After a Lady Falcon trey put Coffee County down by two once again, Jaydee Nogodula went to the free throw line and sank both of her shots to tie it at 19-19. Nogodula followed with her own basket from downtown to put the Lady Raiders up by three, before adding another free throw to send the Lady Raiders into halftime with a 23-19 lead.

Coffee County opened the second half with another 3-pointer, this time from Audri Patton. This would ultimately be the only basket the Lady Raiders would score over the course of the third quarter, as Lincoln County went on to add 10 unanswered points on the way to taking a 29-26 lead into the fourth. The Lady Falcons did not surrender the lead again and sent the Lady Raiders home with their first district loss.

Jenslee Nogodula led the Coffee County offensive effort with 10 points. Patton followed right behind with nine points, finishing just ahead of both Harris and Jaydee Nogodula with eight points each. Kaysen Morgan had a single 3-pointer for three points.