S

A season filled with ups and downs came to an early end for the Coffee County Red Raiders after a 60-33 road loss at Independence in the 4A Region 5 Quarterfinals on Saturday night.

Cold starts on the offensive end have been an undesirable trend for the Red Raiders this season and Saturday night’s battle with the Independence Eagles was no different.

The defending 4A State Champions made things difficult for the Red Raiders in the opening frame, as the Eagles opened the game on a 7-0 scoring run before Coffee County called its first timeout.

Coffee County could only muster a two-point field goal in a cold-shooting first quarter, and Independence led 13-2 after the first eight minutes.

The red-hot Eagles continued their offensive barrage in the second frame, outscoring Coffee County 20-11 for a halftime lead of 33-13. Senior Tylan Lewis had the hot hand for the Eagles, scoring 12 points in the first half.

Coffee County came out of the halftime break with a tight press defense, and even though it helped the Red Raiders match their first half point total, it wasn’t enough to hold down a talented Eagles offense that still scored 16 third quarter points.

Scoring slowed down in the fourth quarter with both teams going to their bench in the final minutes, but the Eagles held on for a 60-33 win, putting Coffee County’s season to an abrupt end.

“They defend really well,” Red Raider Coach Andrew Taylor said of the opposition. “Every cut is contested, every screen is contested and every shot is contested. Again, it’s a make-or-miss game and they shot it really well tonight and we struggled to make baskets, which has been our nemesis all year.”

The 2024-25 campaign certainly wasn’t a cake walk for the Red Raiders, but after a season of tough battles, Coach Taylor believes that his group still left a little on the table.

“We didn’t accomplish our goal,” Taylor said. “Our goal was to try and play for championships and we didn’t get there. We battled inconsistency all year, coaches didn’t do enough, I didn’t do enough to get these guys ready to go and at the end of the day, we want to be better than that.”

Despite a disappointing end to a hard-fought campaign, Coach Taylor is positive about the future of the squad, but still believes a fair amount of work lies ahead in the offseason.

“We’re losing a lot of guys, but we have some guys with a lot of experience coming back and we have a good young group,” Taylor said. “The thing is, we have to get back into the gym and develop. Basketball players are made from March to October and teams are built from October to March. I feel good about what we have coming back next year, but there’s still a lot of work in store.”

The Red Raiders end the 2024-25 season with a 14-16 overall record.

Independence: 13 20 16 11 – 60

Coffee County: 2 11 13 7 – 33

Independence (60) – Dawsyn Miller 19, Tylan Lewis 14, Nick Degnan 13, Harris Hall 6, Jacob Duryea 4, Jack Morris 4.

Coffee County (33) – Cayden Trail 9, Brady Wright 9, David Lewis 5, Cortland Farrar 4, Jayden Carter 4, Jaiden Warren 2.