A three point barrage by Lincoln County and a cold shooting 2^nd half combined to end the basketball season for the Coffee County Red Raiders on Friday night in the opening round of the District 8AAA basketball tournament at Franklin County.  Coffee County, which led by 1 at the half, fell behind by 6 points in the 3^rd quarter before losing 54 to 51.  Coffee County cut the deficit to 1 point with 61 seconds remaining but a pair of turnovers in the final minute prevented the come from behind win.

The Red Raiders opened the game strong as they roared out to a an early 11 to 2 lead, only to see Lincoln County tie it at the end of the first quarter.  Coffee County trailed by 7 in the second quarter before closing the half on an 8 to 0 run to lead at intermission 25 to 24.  Lincoln County captured the lead with 4:09 left in the 3^rd quarter and never trailed again in the win.

Grant Sadler led Coffee County in scoring as he finished with 12 points.  Tyrese McGee added 11 points and Steven Sullivan finished with 10.  Sadler notched his points on four 3 point baskets, one in each quarter, to be named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  The loss leaves Coffee County’s final record at 21 and 8 which is the best record for a Red Raider basketball team in roughly 50 years.

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The Predators defeated the Blue Jackets 4-3 on Sunday. Defenseman Mattias Ekholm scored the game-winning goal with 10:51 left in regulation, breaking a 3-3 tie.

Scoring first and early: After allowing an early goal in their Saturday loss to the Wild, the Predators quickly struck Sunday. Defenseman Ryan Ellis’ goal, his ninth this season, at 2:24 was Nashville’s third-fastest to start a game this season, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The Predators needed it, because the Blue Jackets were the aggressors through most of the game, digging out of a 2-0 hole and tying the score at 3 in the opening minutes of the third period.

Saros strong: The reason why the Predators were able to maintain their lead through most of the game was because of the play of goaltender Juuse Saros in his 12th start this season. He stopped all 19 Columbus shots in the first period.

Fiala’s turn: Nashville has been looking for a left wing to play on captain Mike Fisher’s line. Kevin Fiala, recalled from the minors Saturday, had his turn against Columbus and made an impression in his first NHL game since Jan. 12, scoring on a heads-up play in the second period. With five more games before the NHL trade deadline, that position is one worth monitoring.

Johansen’s return: Nashville and Columbus met Sunday for the third time since the teams swapped center Ryan Johansen and defenseman Seth Jones in a January 2016 trade, but it was the first time Johansen returned to Nationwide Arena. The reception he received waffled between unfriendly and indifferent. Johansen, held scoreless Sunday, played his 100th game with the Predators. He has 74 points with Nashville, tied with forward Filip Forsberg for the team lead since Johansen arrived.

Up next: The Predators play their next four games at Bridgestone Arena, starting with a pivotal matchup against the Flames on Tuesday.  Calgary trails Nashville by two points in the Western Conference wild-card race.

A 9 to nothing run to end the first quarter propelled the Lady Raider basketball team to their 20^th year on the season on Friday afternoon as Coffee County defeated Tullahoma 57 to 32.  The win advances Coffee County to the District 8AAA tournament semifinals on Saturday and also assures Coffee County a berth in the Region 4AAA tournament next week.

After a rash of turnovers and missed shots, Coffee County and Tullahoma were tied at 8 with 2:24 left in the first period.  The Lady Raiders closed out the quarter on a 9 to 0 run and opened the 2^nd quarter with the first 4 points to build a 13 point lead.  From that point, Tullahoma was never able to cut the lead before 9 points as Coffee County got their 5^th win in a row against their cross county rivals.

A trio of Lady Raiders scored in double figures as Abby Morgan led the way with 14 points.  Aerial Williams added 13 points and Holli Smithson finished with 12.  Morgan had 10 points in the 2nd  quarter to help Coffee County build a 12 point lead at the half.  Williams had 5 points in the 4^th quarter and 9 points in the second half to keep the Lady Cats at bay.  For their efforts, Williams and Morgan were named the Crazy Daisies co-players of the game.

The win gives Coffee County 20 wins which is the most for the Lady Raiders since 2001 when the Lady Raiders finished with a record of 21 and 10.  2001 was also the last year that Coffee County won the District 8AAA tournament.  The win assures the Lady Raiders a region berth for the first time since 2013.

Coffee County will take on Lawrence County in the tournament semifinals on Saturday evening.  That game is scheduled to tip off at 5 PM at Franklin County High School.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action.  We will begin with the Char-El Apartments & Home Rental pregame show 10 minutes before tip-off.

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Colin Wilson and P.K. Subban gave their club a chance, but the Nashville Predators ultimately fell, 5-2, to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center. The loss in their first game back after the five-day break keeps Nashville at 62 points on the season and gives teams coming out of the break a 3-12-4 record overall.

It would’ve been easy for the Preds to make an excuse for the loss after being off the ice for five days, but that was hardly the case. Nashville outshot and out chanced the Wild and used two goals in the third period to give Minnesota a scare before the night was over.

“I don’t think the five-day break played into it,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “If we were flat or sluggish; that’s not how I saw the game. I thought we were competitive, we got on the wrong side of the scoreboard early in the game, tough bounces, their goalie played well. But I think chances will be in our favor at the end of the night, shots are in our favor at the end of the night; we did a lot of good things.”

Mikael Granlund gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead on an early power-play opportunity, when he jammed home a loose puck past Pekka Rinne for the opening period’s only goal.

The teams traded chances in the second, and before the period was out, Jason Zucker finished a 2-on-1 opportunity to put the Wild up by two. Mikko Koivu made it 3-0 less than a minute into the third, but then the Preds made things interesting.

At the 8:16 mark of the period, Wilson followed up a Yannick Weber chance to deposit his eighth of the season to cut the lead to two. Then, two minutes later, Subban fired a shot from the point that was originally waved off due to goaltender interference, but after review, Subban was credited with his eighth of the campaign and his first tally since Dec. 6 to pull Nashville to within one.

“Whenever you’re down a couple goals, you need guys to step up and two big players for our hockey club made some plays, so it was good to see,” center Ryan Johansen said. “We felt like we had a chance there.”

As the game wound down, however, Zucker got his second of the night and Eric Staal added an empty-netter to seal the victory for Minnesota.

“It’s that time of the year where these points are important,” forward Vernon Fiddler said. “If you get the two points, you have to put it in the bank and move on to the next one and get those two points. With the loss, you’ve got to do the same thing. You can’t lose two in a row, and we lost this one, but we’ve got to get back on the horse and get back at it tomorrow.”

Nashville will now jet off to Columbus to prepare to face the Blue Jackets on Sunday evening, Ryan Johansen’s first return to Nationwide Arena as a member of the Preds.

“We’ll look at some stuff tomorrow morning. I’m sure and things we can do better but our guys, we competed hard,” Johansen said. “That’s the main thing, so as long as we lace them up again tomorrow and have the same work ethic, hopefully a couple bounces will go our way and stay out of the box a little more, and we’ll be successful.”

Notes:

Prior to Saturday’s game, the Preds recalled forward Kevin Fiala from Milwaukee. Fiala did not dress against the Wild.

Nashville will fly to Columbus and prepare to face the Blue Jackets on Sunday evening from Nationwide Arena, a 5 p.m. CT puck drop, before returning to Nashville to begin a four-game home stand on Tuesday night against Calgary.