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For the second time in as many seasons, the Coffee County Lady Raiders will get to play for a Region Title after dispatching the Page Lady Patriots 62-44 in the 4A Region 5 Semifinals on Monday night in Manchester.

The District 10 runners-up showed Coffee County some physicality for nearly 32 minutes, but the reigning Region Champion Lady Raiders would not be denied their 11th victory of the season at the friendly confines of Joe Frank “Patch” Memorial Gymnasium.

Each team went blow-for-blow in the game’s opening minutes, but Coffee County edged in front 15-11 at the end of the first quarter with the help of six points from Channah Gannon and five points from Olivia Vinson.

Vinson would hit a couple of shots from beyond the arch in the second frame, but the senior would find herself in early foul trouble, committing three of the Lady Raiders’ six first half fouls.

Fellow senior classmate Gannon would add seven points to her total in the second quarter and sophomore Jules Ferrell collected seven points of her own to help the Lady Raiders open up a double digit lead of 35-22 at the halftime break.

Coffee County allowed only seven points by Page in the third quarter, and despite being outscored 15–12 in the fourth, the Lady Raiders held on to win the game, 62-44.

“Well, Randy Coffman is one of the best coaches in the state of Tennessee,” Coach Joe Pat Cope said of his competitor. “He knows how to coach this game, so you know that coming into a game like tonight, you’re going to face a good basketball team. I thought our girls fought well through the physicality and the foul trouble and we just played a really good basketball game.”

Up until last season, the Region Tournament had always seemed to be an Achilles’ heel for the Lady Raiders. In the five seasons leading up to the 2023-24 campaign, the Lady Raiders made the Region Semifinals four times, including three straight appearances from 2019 to 2023, but the team could never make the next step. Last year, the Lady Raiders silenced any doubt by winning the Region Championship for the first time in over five decades, and with their most recent win over the Page Lady Patriots, the Lady Raiders will now be fighting for a second consecutive Region crown.

“Our girls have just taken another step, they expect to win at this stage now,” said Cope. “Before last year, they hadn’t made the Region Title game since 1993, and now they’ve made it in back-to-back years. Some of this current group haven’t lost a game on this floor. I think tonight was the 43rd game in a row that they’ve won here at home and that’s unheard of! For what they’ve done. I’m so proud of them.”

However, if the Lady Raiders are to win the Region Championship, they will have to go through a familiar foe.

In the second Region Semifinal game, the Lincoln County Lady Falcons defeated Brentwood 51-35, setting up what will be the eighth meeting between the Lady Raiders and the Lady Falcons in the last two years, and a repeat of last year’s Region 5 Title Game.

The 4A Region 5 Championship Game will take place at “The Patch” on Wednesday, March 5 at 7 p.m.

The game is not a must-win scenario for the Lady Raiders to stay alive in the State Championship hunt, but a win would grant the Lady Raiders another home game in the Sectional round on Saturday, March 8.

Coffee County: 15 20 15 12 – 62

Page: 11 11 7 15 – 44

Coffee County (62) – Channah Gannon 23, Jules Ferrell 15, Olivia Vinson 13, Natalie Barnes 11.

Page (44) – Samantha Lee 9, Jordyn Porter 8, Avery Payne 6, Mia Hauptman 6, Miah Cabale 5, Mazie Bushman 4, Mary Fox 4, Meredith Warner 2.