Coffee soars over Falcons on Senior Night
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On Tuesday night, Coffee County basketball celebrated their seniors with a sweep of Lincoln County.
Between the two games, senior members of the dance team, cheerleaders and basketball teams were recognized.
From the dance and cheer teams were Cgerish Owens, Orianna Desalvo, Anna Jones, Layla McGee, Anna-Leise Strohm, Hannah Van-Alphen and Addison VanWinkle.
From the Red Raiders Basketball team, Camden Hunt, Cooper Reed, Jackson Shemwell and manager Layne Grissom were recognized.
Of his four senior members, Coach Taylor said, “It’s been an honor to work with those guys. Cooper and Jackson have been here for four years and both of them were part of that State Tournament run a couple of years ago. Camden has been here for two years and has improved by leaps and bounds. Layne has been here for three years and does work behind the scenes like the laundry and the water and he is very selfless and is a good person to be around. We are so fortunate to have good people in our program.”
Going into their matchup against Lincoln County, the Lady Raiders were looking to lock up the District Regular Season Title.
The Lady Raiders would set the pace early on, outscoring the Lady Falcons 9-5 in the first quarter.
Lincoln County came flying back in the second, outscoring Coffee 17-15 to cut the Lady Raiders lead down to 24-22.
The Lady Raiders exploded on offense in the third, outscoring the Lady Falcons 23-13 to lead 47-35 heading into the fourth, where they would close out the game, 59-43 for their 10th straight win.
With the win, the Lady Raiders locked up the Regular Season District Title.
“We were able to keep our turnovers to a minimum tonight,” said Coach Joe Pat Cope. “We also shot the ball a lot better in that third quarter and that helped us pull away. We’ve got one game left and I want us to continue to shoot the ball well and fine tune some things on defense before we head into the district tournament.”
Scoring for the Lady Raiders were Natalie Barnes with 20 points, Jules Ferrell with 12 points, Olivia Vinson with 11 points, Channah Gannon with eight points, Ella Arnold with six points and Audri Patton with two points.
The Lady Raiders are 25-3 with a 9-0 district record with one game left in the regular season.
In the meantime, the Red Raiders were looking to avenge their loss to the Falcons on Saturday, Feb. 3.
The Red Raiders raced out front at the start, outscoring the Falcons 21-6 in the first quarter.
Coffee kept the momentum going in the second, outscoring Lincoln County 11-6 to lead at halftime, 32-12.
The Red Raiders would continue to pad their lead in the third, outscoring the Falcons 16-13 for a 48-25 lead heading into the fourth, where they would finish it off, 60-32.
“Tonight we had a fantastic effort on defense,” said Coach Andrew Taylor. “The guys were really focused in the walk-through earlier today in understanding their defensive assignments and we also shot the ball well tonight. A good defense usually bleeds over into a good offense.”
Scoring for the Red Raiders were Cooper Reed with 19 points, Jackson Shemwell with 11 points, Brady Wright with nine points, Jayden Carter with seven points, Jaiden Warren with six points, Camden Hunt with four points and Cayden Trail and Courtland Farrar with two points each.
The Red Raiders are now 16-11 overall with a 7-2 record in district play with one game to go and can clinch a share of the Regular Season District Title with a win on Thursday.
Coffee County basketball concludes the regular season with a road trip to Spring Hill on Thursday, Feb. 8.
