S

Coffee County completed a season sweep of Lincoln County on Tuesday night in Fayetteville as the Lady Raiders outdueled the Lady Falcons 56-45 to claim the 4A District 9 Regular Season Title and the Red Raiders defeated the Falcons 62-43.

Coffee County Lady Raiders: 56, Lincoln County Lady Falcons: 45

Last time the Lady Raiders squared off against their district rivals on Jan. 24, both teams were ranked inside the TSWA Top 10 rankings for Class 4A, with Coffee County taking the No. 2 spot and Lincoln County settling in at No. 7.

Coffee County would go on to take the first matchup in Manchester 61-51 and ever since then, the Lady Raiders have maintained the No. 2 spot behind Bradley Central while the Lady Falcons have been in and out of the top 10 with the most recent rankings having Lincoln County outside of the top 10 with one vote received.

Tuesday night’s matchup would not only be a rematch between two of the best teams in Class 4A, but also a battle for sole possession of this year’s District 9 Regular Season Title.

The Lady Raiders would get off to a good start in Fayetteville, outscoring the Lady Falcons 14-7 in the first quarter with 12 of their 14 first quarter points coming from senior Channah Gannon.

Lincoln County would have a slight edge in the second quarter, scoring 13 points to Coffee County’s 12, but the Lady Raiders would still hold a 26-20 lead at the end of the first half.

Gannon would add seven points in the third quarter to help Coffee County outscore Lincoln 13-12 and the Lady Raiders would run away with it in the fourth quarter for a 56-45 victory.

Despite a 23-point performance from senior Abby Bryan and 16 points from senior Alyssa Petty, the rest of the Lady Falcons were held to just six points by the Lady Raider defense.

Alongside 25 points from Channah Gannon, the only other double-digit scorer for Coffee County was senior Olivia Vinson, who dropped 15 points, marking the seventh time this season in which Gannon has scored 20 points or more and the 13th time that Vinson has scored at least 15 points.

With the win, the Lady Raiders collect the 4A District 9 Regular Season Championship with one game to go and improve to 27-0 with a 9-0 mark in district play.

Coffee County: 14, 12, 13, 17 (56) Channah Gannon 25, Olivia Vinson 15, Jules Ferrell 9, Natalie Barnes 6, Jaydee Nogodula 1.

Lincoln County: 7, 13, 12, 13 (45) Abby Bryan 23, Alyssa Petty 16, Grasen Tipps 3, Molly Brown 3.

Coffee County Red Raiders: 62, Lincoln County Falcons: 43

It’s safe to say that this year has been a bit of a gauntlet for the Coffee County Red Raiders, and there is no further proof of that than their district schedule.

Entering Tuesday night’s clash with the Falcons in Fayetteville, the Red Raiders were 4-4 in 4A District 9 with five of those eight battles being decided by single digits and two of those five ending in overtime. In their last three games alone, the Red Raiders have gone 1-2 with an average scoring margin of 3.3 points per game.

The Red Raiders’ last meeting with Lincoln County in Manchester on Jan. 24 was a bit of an outlier, as Coffee County controlled that game quite well in a 62-48 win.

Coffee County would have equal control at the start of Tuesday night’s rematch, outscoring the Falcons 13-9 in each of the first two quarters for a 26-18 halftime lead. Senior Courtland Farrar and Sophomore MJ Rollman combined for 16 of Coffee County’s 26 first half points.

Farrar would add eight more points to his total in the third quarter, where the Red Raiders erupted for 28 points to take a 54-27 lead into the fourth.

Despite Lincoln County outscoring Coffee 16-8 in the fourth, the Red Raiders would hold on for a 62-43 win and a season sweep of the Falcons.

During the win, three players from Coffee County scored in the double-digits: MJ Rollman with 15, Cortland Farrar with 14 and Brady Wright with 10. This marks the seventh time of the season in which three Coffee County players scored at least 10 points in a game, with the Red Raiders going 5-2 in those seven games.

With their victory over the Falcons, Coffee County moves to 11-13 on the season with a 5-4 record in 4A District 9.

Coffee County: 13, 13, 28, 8 (62) MJ Rollman 15, Cortland Farrar 14, Brady Wright 10, Jaiden Warren 8, Jayden Carter 6, Cayden Trail 5, Luke Campbell 2, Audie Nicoll 2.

Lincoln County: 9, 9, 9, 16 (43) Reese Smith 10, Maddox Franklin 10, Carson Thompson 7, Luke Parks 6, Trevor Murphy 5, Brody Bryan 4, Elijah Parks 1.

Coffee County basketball will return to “The Patch” for Senior Night on Thursday, Feb. 13 when the Lady Raiders and Red Raiders play host to Spring Hill in the last district game of the regular season. Girls varsity action is slated to start at 6 p.m.