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On Friday night, the Coffee County Lady Raiders scored over 70 points for a third straight game while the Red Raiders defeated the Pioneers in an impressive road win.

Rivalries can, more often than not, bring out the worst in people.

This past week, the Coffee County-Warren County rivalry may have brought out the worst in some, but for all intents and purposes, it also brought out the best.

The story begins on Saturday, Jan. 27 where Coffee County played host to Warren County.

During the boys game, things got a little heated, prompting Thunder Radio to design a t-shirt that stated “Not a whole lot good comes out of Warren County… ‘Cept HWY 55 and Praters,” which they posted on social media Monday, Jan. 29 with some proceeds going to The Dream for Weave Foundation.

While the shirt was made in jest, and was seen by some as just part of the rivalry between the two schools, it understandably drew the ire of the Warren County faithful. 

Warren County’s Savannah Hall even designed a clap back shirt that stated, “Roses are red, violets are blue…Coffee County only has Bonnaroo, and Praters #2.”

Prater’s BBQ of Morrison also responded, posting that anyone wearing Warren County Pioneer apparel to their restaurant on the day of Friday, Feb. 2 with a meal purchase of $25 or more would lead to a 10% donation to McMinnville Special Games.

Prater’s of Manchester decided to offer the same deal to Coffee County Fans with proceeds going to The Dream for Weave Foundation.

Many other Warren County businesses stepped up to the plate, such as Crisp Springs Market, Morrison Nutrition, Black’s Heating and Air, Pioneer Lanes and Crisp Springs Fireworks.

Other businesses and people from both counties have also pledged $1 per point scored by either team in the game on Friday night, with proceeds from every Lady Raider and Red Raider point going to The Dream for Weave Foundation and proceeds from every Lady Pioneer and Pioneer point going to McMinnville Special Games.

As donations continued to rise, so did the anticipation of the rematch between the two schools on the basketball court and on Friday night, Warren County’s Charlie Dalton Gym was packed to the brim with spectators as the Lady Raiders took on the Lady Pioneers.

The Lady Raiders came flying out at the start, outscoring Warren County 25-6 in the first quarter.

Coffee continued to pour it on in the second quarter, outscoring Warren 21-11 to lead at halftime, 46-17.

Warren County would double their point total in the third, but the Lady Raiders remained in front going into the fourth, 70-34.

For the third game in a row, the starters would get some rest and the bench unit would play most of the fourth quarter as the Lady Raiders sailed to a 75-39 win.

“We shot the ball extremely well in the first half,” said Coach Joe Pat Cope. “However, when you get up by so many points it’s hard to stay motivated sometimes and I thought we might have taken it a bit too easy in the second half. Overall, we still had a pretty good game.”

Scoring for the Lady Raiders were Olivia Vinson with 22 points, Natalie Barnes with 18 points, Channah Gannon with 14 points, Jules Ferrell with 13 points, Ava McIntosh and Kasen Morgan with two points each and Audri Patton and Morgan Spears each had one point.

The Lady Raiders won their seventh game in a row and are now 22-3 overall with a 6-0 district record.

While the gym was packed for the girls game, it wasn’t quite as loud as it would be for the boys game, where the atmosphere reached a fever pitch.

The Warren County home crowd was so loud at times that it could rival a small college atmosphere, which makes the Red Raider win that much more impressive.

It was a lights out start to the first quarter, as the Red Raiders outscored the Pioneers 15-12 and half of the gymnasium lights went out for a brief moment with a minute left in the quarter.

The Red Raiders continued to hold service in the second, outscoring Warren County 13-7 for a 28-19 halftime lead.

Both teams continued to battle in the third quarter as the Red Raiders went to the fourth quarter with a 37-26 lead.

Each team would score 10 points in the fourth quarter and Coffee County would go on to win, 47-36.

“Fantastic effort all around by our team,” said Coach Andrew Taylor. “Our defense was phenomenal tonight. We had some trouble on the glass early, but we were able to clean that up. They’re (Warren) a good basketball team and we knew they were going to make a run at some point in the game, but our guys responded, and I couldn’t be prouder of them as a group tonight.”

Scoring for the Red Raiders were Cooper Reed with 15 points, Brady Wright with 12 points, Jackson Shemwell with nine points, Cayden Trail with seven points, and Jayden Carter with four points.

The Red Raiders have won eight of their last nine games and are now 14-10 with a 5-1 district record.

Coffee County Basketball returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Lincoln County at 6:00 pm.