Coffee splits Highway 55 battle at Warren
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The No. 2 Lady Raiders ran away with their third district win of the season, 74-41, but the Red Raiders struggled on offense in a 46-24 loss on Tuesday night at Charlie Dalton Gymnasium.
CCHS Lady Raiders: 74, Warren County Lady Pioneers: 41
With dominant wins over Shelbyville and Columbia now in their back pocket, the Lady Raiders travelled to Warren County eyeing their 21st consecutive win of the season.
The Lady Raiders had the edge in the first quarter, outscoring Warren County 16-5. Despite missing several shots in the second quarter, Coffee County would still outscore the Lady Pioneers 12-7 for a 28-12 halftime lead.
Coffee County’s shooting would improve in the second half, and the Lady Raiders outscored Warren 46-29 over the final two quarters to win 74-41.
“Shots just weren’t falling in that second quarter,” said Coach Joe Pat Cope. “Everything is magnified when shots aren’t falling. I got really tense about our press defense and both Channah and Ava had two fouls early and we were playing without them for a little bit. I told the girls at halftime that we can’t have a half like that a month from now. We need to keep bringing it hard every game.”
The No. 2 ranked Lady Raiders will play host to Lincoln County on Friday, a team that recently made its way into the statewide rankings this week at No. 7. Having played against the Lady Falcons a total of four times last season, junior Natalie Barnes and sophomore Jules Ferrell each shared what it would take to keep the momentum going in district play.
“We just need to keep hustling, rebounding and doing the little things on every play and stay focused,” said Barnes.
“I would say that we need to pressure the ball, make sure to close out shooters and not let them get shots off, because you know that they can hit them,” added Ferrell.
With the win over Warren, the Lady Raiders improve to 21-0 on the season and 3-0 in district play.
Box Score: Coffee County Lady Raiders (74) Jules Ferrell 21, Natalie Barnes 20, Channah Gannon 12, Olivia Vinson 10, Jaydee Nogodula 3, Kaysen Morgan 3, Audri Patton 2, Morgen Spears 2, Ella Arnold 1.
Warren County Lady Pioneers (41) Addison Steakley 13, Brenlee Chisam 10, Trinity Reynolds 6, Brinlee Griffin 3, Aubrey Oleksik 3, Ruby Dennina 3, Zoie Verge 2, Cortlyn Porter 1.
CCHS Red Raiders: 46, Warren County Pioneers: 24
After ending a five-game winless drought against Columbia, the Red Raiders were hoping to continue building momentum in district play with a win against the Pioneers, who had built up a 3-0 record against 4A District 9 opponents.
The first half would be a close, low-scoring half, as the Pioneers outscored the Red Raiders 9-8 in the first quarter and 9-5 in the second for a halftime lead of 18-13.
Coffee County’s offense could not match the output by the Pioneers in the second half, and Warren County outscored the Red Raiders 28-11 over the final two quarters, holding Coffee to a season-low 24 team points in a 46-24 win.
“We played about four good minutes of offense towards the beginning of the game and then it was just one bad shot after another,” said Coach Andrew Taylor. “We worked hard on defense. If we didn’t defend and rebound like we did, we wouldn’t have been in the game as long as we were, but our offensive execution gave us no chance to win.”
The loss to the Pioneers drops the Red Raiders to 7-11 on the season and 1-2 in district play.
Box Score: Coffee County Red Raiders (24) Jayden Carter 6, Cayden Trail 5, Brady Wright 5, David Lewis 3, Caiden Warren 3, Kaysen Lowery 2.
Warren County Pioneers (46) Devin Fish 14, Keyton Reno 11, Deashawn Adams 10, Corban Felton 9, Nathan Turner 2.
CCHS basketball will return to The Patch on Friday, Jan. 24 for a 4A District 9 showdown with Lincoln County starting at 6 p.m.
