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Coffee County Middle School kicked off its 2025-26 boys’ and girls’ basketball seasons with a home doubleheader against South Middle Thursday evening.

Both teams came out on the losing end of each matchup, with the Lady Raiders falling behind late in a 34-31 loss and the Red Raiders following this up with a 48-29 defeat.

Coffee County (0-1 boys, 0-1 girls) will look to rebound with a pair of home games against West Tullahoma Monday evening. The action will begin with the girls’ game, which is slated to tip off at 6 p.m.

CCMS girls come up just short

The Lady Raiders found themselves in a close contest from the jump Thursday, with the two teams in a battle early on. Trailing South by one point late in the first quarter, a basket from Abbey Williams put Coffee County ahead, resulting in a 13-12 Lady Raider lead to start the second quarter.

The Lady Raiders were briefly able to separate themselves as the game continued, at one point building a 26-18 lead. South was able to climb back into it from there and cut the Coffee County lead to 28-26 ahead of the fourth quarter.

After tying it at 28-28, South went on to take control with back-to-back 3-pointers to build a six-point lead. Not out of it yet, Kinley Barker knocked down a trey of her own to cut the South lead to 34-31 in the final minute. The Lady Raiders were unable to come any closer, ultimately finishing down by 3 as time expired.

Brooklyn Carlton led the Coffee County offensive effort with 17 points. Kealy Branch added seven points. Barker followed with four points. Williams had three points.

Raiders fall behind early

The South boys quickly built up a lead on Coffee County as the nightcap got under way, holding the Red Raiders to a free throw from LT Carney on the way to taking a 16-1 lead to close out the first quarter.

Coffee County’s offense continued to have production issues in the second quarter, adding just seven points to trail South 28-8 at halftime.

Down 32-16 at the end of the third quarter, the Red Raiders started to pick up the pace late before South pulled away once again to finish up by 19.

Eli Morgan and Braxtyn Swack both had 10 points each to lead Coffee County’s scoring effort. Carney followed with seven points. Dixon Keele had two points.