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On Friday, the Lady Raiders’ spectacular season came to a close after a tough, 55-35 loss to defending State Champion Bradley Central in the semifinals of the BlueCross Basketball Championships.

Bradley Central would set the tone at the start, as the Bearettes outscored the Lady Raiders 15-11 in the opening quarter.

The Bearettes carried their momentum into the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Raiders 15-6 to take a 30-17 lead into halftime.

The Lady Raiders would fight back in the third quarter, but the Bearettes still outscored them 10-9 as they led 40-26 heading into the fourth quarter.

Coffee County’s offensive woes continued in the third quarter, and Bradley Central held on for a 55-35 win.

“They were more physical than us,” Coach Joe Pat Cope said of Bradley Central. “They were able to push us off of our screens and dictate the flow of the game. We had to make our shots, especially at this big of a stage, and tonight we didn’t do that.”

With no seniors on the team this year, the Lady Raiders will have another chance with this group of players to get back to Murfreesboro next year, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they did.

“This team will be back,” said Cope. “Each one of our girls knows what they have to get better at and they will.”

“I’m excited for next year and ready for it to start back up already,” said Coffee County junior Channah Gannon. “I want to get back to the weight room, because these teams are physical and play good defense. I also want to work on shooting from my left hand cause when I switch over from my right, I tend to get blocked, so I want to work on that and work on getting my feet faster and help get this team back here.”

Scoring for the Lady Raiders in the 4A State Semifinals were Jules Ferrell with 10 points, Channah Gannon with eight points, Natalie Barnes with seven points, Olivia Vinson with four points and Ella Arnold and Audri Patton with three points each.

The Coffee County Lady Raiders finish the 2023-24 season with a 33-4 record, going undefeated in district play, winning the 4A District 9 Regular Season and Tournament Championships, winning the Region Championship for the first time since high school girls basketball went to five on five in the 1970s, and making the State Final Four for the first time in over 30 years.

This season has been one for the ages and with how young this Lady Raiders team is, they will be back better than ever next year.

To the Coffee County fans who made the trip down to Murfreesboro, thank you for supporting this team, making some noise and painting the lower bowl of the Murphy Center red for a little while.

In the other semifinal game, Bartlett beat Cleveland 65-55 to advance the State Championship.

The TSSAA 4A State Championship between Bradley Central and Bartlett will take place on Saturday, March 9 at 1:00 pm at MTSU’s Murphy Center.