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The Coffee County Red Raiders came back from a double digit deficit to lead late, but the GCA Lions still proved to be too much, beating Coffee County 58-49 in the Jeff Taylor Classic.

Entering the tournament, the Red Raiders were coming off of a 47-38 win at Franklin County on Friday, Dec. 13, which put the Red Raiders’ season record even at 4-4.

Standing between the Red Raiders and a winning record were the Grace Christian Academy Lions, who were traveling down from Franklin.

Coffee County would struggle to score early on, as the Lions went on an 8-1 run in the opening minutes, but the Red Raiders outscored GCA 11-4 the rest of the first quarter to knot the score at 12-12 at the end of the first frame.

Offensive struggles continued for the Red Raiders in the second quarter and the Lions took advantage, outscoring Coffee County 17-7 to take a 29-19 lead into the halftime break.

Coffee County would chip away at GCA’s lead in the third quarter, outscoring the Lions 18-16 to pull within eight points and make the score 45-37 heading into the fourth.

The Red Raiders would go on a 10-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter to take a 47-45 lead, but the Lions responded by outscoring Coffee County 13-2 the rest of the way to win the game, 58-49.

With the loss, the Red Raiders fall to 4-5 on the season.

Box Score: Coffee County Red Raiders (49) Kaysen Lowery 8, MJ Rollman 6, David Lewis 6, Audie Nicoll 6, Cayden Trail 5, Cortland Farrar 5, Jayden Carter 5, Brady Wright 4, Jaiden Warren 3, Caiden Warren 1.

Grace Christian Academy Lions (58) Ford Deshazo 20, Wesley Stewart 8, Ty Gibbs 7, Luke Lohrding 6, Cutler Stephens 6, Wyatt Hall 5, Sam Lohrding 4, Cohen Stammen 1, Griffey Jakes 1.

Coffee County will be back in Tullahoma on Saturday, Dec. 21 to take on Glencliff in their second and final game of the Jeff Taylor Classic at 4:30 p.m.