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On Wednesday night, the Coffee Middle Red Raiders lost their semifinal matchup with the Whitthorne Tigers while the Lady Raiders beat Warren County to advance to the AAA Area 6 Championship Game.

In their semifinal game against Whitthorne, the Red Raiders got off to a slow start and couldn’t seem to recover.

The Red Raiders would struggle out of the gate as Whitthorne shut them out 10-0 in the first quarter.

Coffee would get on the scoreboard in the second quarter, but the Tigers continued their torrent pace to lead 24-7 at the half.

The Tigers would pour it on in the third, outscoring the Red Raiders 16-9 to lead 40-16 heading into the fourth, where they held on to win, 44-29.

“On defense, there were times where we tried to sandwich the post and keep them from making a move inside, but it didn’t happen,” said Coach Jonathan Oliver. “We also had a good game plan to beat the press defense, but we made some errant passes. However, we could’ve adjusted better and I put that on myself. We’re going to have a good practice tomorrow, watch some film on Lewisburg and come back Friday night for the consolation game.”

Scoring for the Red Raiders were Ryan Abellana with eight points, Jaxon Pruitt with seven points, Jack Oliver with four points and Jerrad Morgan, Warren Simmons, Lane Sheppard, Joe Jordan and Jude Golembiewski each had two points. 

 The Red Raiders will play Lewisburg on Friday, Jan. 26 at 6:00 pm in the consolation game.

Meanwhile, the Lady Raiders were looking to pick up where they left off in the regular season as they took on the Warren County Lady Pioneers for the third time this season.

The Lady Raiders took full control at the start, outscoring Warren County 12-2 in the first quarter.

Coffee continued their hot start in the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Pioneers 9-3 to lead 21-5 at halftime.

The Lady Raiders upped their lead to 32-13 in the third quarter before going on to win the game, 34-20.

“It was a pretty ugly win,” said Coach David Vinson. “I don’t think we picked up a basketball for about 11 days due the weather this past week, but on defense, we played with all of our heart and guts and it carried us again tonight. I’m glad we got win #21 and I’m glad we get a chance to play for an Area Championship tomorrow night and pick up win #22.”

Scoring for the Lady Raiders were Addalyn Clark with 14 points, Jenslee Nogodula with seven points, Kensley Pruitt with six points, Avery Pruitt with three points and Isabelle Saner and Harper Crosslin with two points each.

The Coffee Middle Lady Raiders will play in the AAA Area 6 Championship game on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 7:00 pm.