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On Wednesday, Oct. 30, players and coaches from Coffee County Central High School’s basketball teams participated in the 4A District 9 Media Day held at Shelbyville’s Cooper Steel Arena.

At the meeting, members from each team of the district (except Spring Hill, who were absent from the event) discussed the upcoming basketball season with Thunder Radio’s Josh Peterson and Elk Valley Media’s Austin Collette.

The Coffee County Lady Raiders, represented by Head Coach Joe Pat Cope as well as senior players Channah Gannon, Ava McIntosh and Olivia Vinson, were the first ones to preview their upcoming season.

After a successful 2023-24 campaign in which the team went 33-4, swept the District 9 Regular Season and Tournament Championships, won a Region Title for the first time since the 1970s and made the State Tournament for the first time since 1993, the Lady Raiders are looking to run it back for 2024-25 with everyone returning from last year’s squad.

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years and it’s the first time I’ve ever had everybody back,” said Coach Joe Pat Cope. “I had a good team last year, so the positive of that is that this summer you have all of your stuff down from the previous season. We were really able to focus this summer on the little things, like taking each girl’s weakness if they had one and working on it, getting their opposite hand better, working on shooting and on our defense.”

Coach Cope believes that his team doesn’t need to stray too far from what made them successful last year.

“I don’t think we need to do anything different,” he said. “We just have to stay focused and this team is good about that. They’re not going to come into any game and think, ‘oh, we got this’. You can’t do that, especially with another top five team down the road from us in our district. We just need to stay focused, do what we do each night and not overlook anyone.”

Lipscomb commit and Lady Raider senior Olivia Vinson seemed to echo that sentiment.

“We just need to continue to play our game,” she said. “Some nights, shots aren’t going to fall and some nights, you’re not going to play well. With some of us being seniors, any game could be our last, so we just need to leave it all out there.”

Even though the Lady Raiders fell two games short of a 4A State Title last year, Vinson walked away from it with an overall positive experience.

“It was amazing,” she said. “Here in Coffee County we have the best supporters and we have so many people behind us everywhere we go, so it was really awesome to finally get to that next level that we had been wanting to get to for so long.”

Of course, Coffee County weren’t the only ones representing District 9 in the 4A State Tournament last year, as the Lincoln County Lady Falcons were also present in the eight team tournament. The Lady Raiders won all four matchups with their district rivals last year, including a close 56-50 battle at Lincoln County back on Feb. 3, a 59-43 win at home on Feb. 6, a 49-45 victory in the District Championship game on Feb. 19 and a 56-30 rout in the Region 5 Championship on Feb. 28.

Coach Cope expressed his desire to see the two teams battle it out again.

“I hope we have another four battles with them this year like we did last year,” he said. “Hopefully we can stay opposite of them and see them again in Murfreesboro.”

Meanwhile, the Red Raiders, represented by Head Coach Andrew Taylor and seniors Brady Wright and Jayden Carter, are hoping to reload after going 18-13, winning the Regular Season District Championship and placing runner-up in the District Tournament last season.

The Red Raiders are also looking for some players to step up after losing three prolific seniors from last year’s team: Cooper Reed (last year’s District MVP), Jackson Shemwell (All-District) and Camden Hunt.

“We have five of our top eight back from last year,” said Coach Taylor, “It’s been a bit of an unusual offseason because three of those five have been injured and not been able to play, so this summer has been challenging for us not having some of our main guys, but at the same time, it gives us time to evaluate some up-and-coming players and see who’s ready to produce at a varsity level.”

Coach Taylor believes that the beginning of the season could prove to be challenging, but he also believes that his team is ready for the challenge.

“Early on it could be a struggle,” he said. “Brady’s played a lot, Carter’s played a lot and Trail’s played a lot, but a lot of the other guys are going to be new, so it will be a bit of a feeling out process as we go through the non-district schedule. We are excited about the opportunity, the guys have been working hard and we’re ready to get started.”

Brady Wright, last year’s Most Improved Player of 4A District 9 and a senior for the Red Raiders this coming season, expressed how the team is looking to build on some key attributes of last year’s squad.

“They played with a lot of determination and passion, especially the seniors,” he said. “They played really hard every game last year. There were no off games and that carried over to us and we just want to continue to play like that.”

Determination and passion will be key, especially when the Red Raiders reach district play in January where every gym presents a unique challenge.

“Every place is tough to play at,” said Coach Taylor. “You go to Warren County and it’s packed and the fire marshall isn’t letting people in, it seems like we’ve had a rivalry with Lincoln County for forever, Columbia and Shelbyville were both part of the old District 8 and those can be hostile places to play and Spring Hill is a bit newer in this district, but it’s not an easy road trip either. Night in and night out, if you get a win on the road, you’ve earned it.”

The Lady Raiders and Red Raiders may have to wait until January to face any of their five district rivals, but they won’t have to wait long for the start of the regular season, which will be at home on Tuesday, Nov. 19 against Siegel with varsity action starting at 6 p.m.

4A District 9 preseason polls:

Girls (media): 1. Coffee County, 2. Lincoln County, 3. Columbia Central, 4. Warren County (tied with four votes), 5. Spring Hill (tied with four votes), 6. Shelbyville Central

Girls (coaches): 1. Coffee County, 2. Lincoln County, 3. Warren County, 4. Shelbyville Central, 5. Spring Hill, 6. Columbia Central

Boys (media and coaches): 1. Columbia Central, 2. Warren County, 3. Coffee County, 4. Lincoln County, 5. Shelbyville Central, 6. Spring Hill