Brooms out! CCMS makes it a clean sweep of CTC Basketball Championships
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On Thursday night, Coffee County Middle made it a clean sweep of the CTC Basketball Championships as the Lady Raiders beat South Franklin 41-5 and the Red Raiders edged the Harris Eagles 27-23 at Tullahoma High School.
CCMS Lady Raiders: 41, South Franklin Lady Trojans: 5
After taking care of business against North Franklin in the semifinals, the top seeded Lady Raiders were looking to clinch a conference championship with a win over #3 South Franklin, who upset #2 Harris in their semifinal game.
The Lady Raiders’ patented defense yet again set the tone at the start, helping to outscore South 11-3 in the first quarter and 17-2 in the second for a halftime lead of 28-5.
Coffee County would hold the Lady Trojans scoreless over the final two quarters and win the game 41-5 to seal a CTC Championship win.
“The hard work that these girls have put in got us here,” said Coach David Vinson. “I’m very proud of them. We still have plenty of more games this season and we have goals that we want to reach.”
With two regular season games to go before the Area Tournament, Coach Vinson doesn’t seem to have many critiques about his undefeated team.
“Obviously, our defense has been great all year,” said Vinson. “We proved that tonight, holding the other team to five points. These girls are very unselfish, so much so that they don’t always realize that they have an open shot, but they get the job done. Hopefully we can stay healthy and keep playing well.”
In postseason awards, Harper Crosslin, Brylyn McAdams, Jenslee Nogodula, Avery Pruitt and Kinsley Pruitt were all named to the CTC All-Conference Team.
Box Score: #1 Coffee County Lady Raiders (41) Jenslee Nogodula 17, Kinsley Pruitt 8, Avery Pruitt 6, Harper Crosslin 4, Kealy Branch 4, Brylyn McAdams 2.
#3 South Franklin Lady Trojans (5) Chloe Cole 4, Addylin Carter 1.
CCMS Red Raiders: 27, Harris Eagles: 23
With a semifinal win over #6 North on Tuesday night in the books, the #2 seed Red Raiders were aiming to finish the job and win the CTC Championship over #4 seed Harris, who upset top seeded Tullahoma West in the semifinals.
The Red Raiders had the edge in a low-scoring start, outscoring the Eagles 4-3 in the first quarter and 9-6 in the second for a halftime lead if 13-9
Harris would try to chip away in the third quarter, outscoring Coffee 6-4, but the Red Raiders outscored the Eagles 10-8 in the fourth and held on to win the game, 27-23.
“Defensively, our effort was stellar,” said Coach Jason Creek. “To hold them to 23 points was outstanding. Offensively, we were still forcing some things and we committed a lot of turnovers, which is a bit unusual for us. Those tight games have given us trouble before, but this game we were able to come out on top. I’m proud of the boys, they’ve worked hard all year and I’m happy for them.”
With the Area Tournament just two more games away, Coach Creek wants to see his team continue to improve and check off certain goals.
“We definitely need to clean up on the offensive end,” said Creek. “Stewarts Creek and Cannon County were competitive games earlier this season and they’ll be close again. We established a list of goals for the season and winning the Conference Championship was one of them, so it was great to check that off and hopefully we can do the same thing in the Area Tournament.”
In postseason awards, Rylan Abellana, Ethan Arnold, Kanon Creek, Jo Jordan and Jaxon Pruitt were all named to the CTC All-Conference Team.
Box Score: #2 Coffee County Red Raiders (27) Jaxon Pruitt 13, Jo Jordan 10, Ethan Arnold 2, Kanon Creek 2.
#4 Harris Eagles (23) Ethan Reyes 8, Cy’onn Rucker 4, Blake Harris 4, Marcus Becerra 3, Aderius Fleuier 2, Kallen Vari 2.
CCMS basketball will go on break and return to action on Monday, Jan. 6 for Eighth Grade Night against Cannon County.
