The Coffee County CHS basketball teams opened up district play on Friday in Winchester.  Taking on their old rival Franklin County, the Lady Raiders raced out to a huge lead and coasted to a 73 to 34 win.  The Red Raiders had a last-second shot come up short as they fell 73 to 70 to the Rebels. 

The Lady Raiders got off to a red-hot start hitting seven 1^st National Bank 3-point baskets in the first half to lead 38 to 17 at intermission.  Coffee County went on a 16 to nothing run in the middle of the 3^rd quarter to take a 30 point lead into the fourth quarter as Coach Joe Pat Cope emptied his bench.   Ten different Lady Raiders scored on the night led by Ellie Graham who had 16 points and she was named the Stonefort Mortgage player of the game.   Bella Vinson added 14 points as Coffee County improved to 9 and 2 on the year and 1 and 0 in district play.

The Red Raiders got off to a slow start trailing 11 to 3 in the first quarter. Coffee County battled back and tied the game at 35 going to the half.  In the second half Franklin County used 2^nd chance points to pull out to an 11 point lead midway through the 4^th quarter.  Coffee County cut the deficit to 3 with 14 seconds to play but missed a pair of last-second three-point shots in the loss.   Coffee County’s regular season record now stands at 7 and 4.   Kyle Farless led Coffee County in scoring with 20 points as he was named the Stonefort Mortgage player of the game.  Jaylon Wooten had 18 points while Jackson Vaughn added 10. 

The Lady Raiders will travel to Chattanooga on Saturday night to take on Baylor.  That game will take place at 4 PM(EST) at Baylor.(see that story HERE)  Both the Red Raiders and Lady Raiders will return home on Monday for a make-up game with Columbia.  Thunder Radio will be on hand on Monday night to bring you the district matchup with Columbia.  The Powers Storage Pregame Show tips off our live coverage at 5:50.  Tipoff is set for 6:00 PM at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym. 

Download the broadcast at: www.ThunderRadio.com/Downloads

The Coffee County CHS wrestling teams traveled to Tullahoma on Saturday to compete in the Garner-Dyer Individual Invitational.  The Red Raiders got a 9^th place team finish and 3 medalists.  The Lady Raiders finished in 6^th place with 2 medalists having only 4 wrestlers competing.

The Red Raiders got 3^rd place finishes from Gavin Prater(at 145 pounds) and Christopher Speagle(220).  Jeremiah Wardell captured a 4^th place finish for the Red Raiders who finished ahead of region rivals Tullahoma, Shelbyville, LaVergne and Rockvale.  Prater finished the day with 2 wins via byes, a pair of pinfall wins and a decision win.  Speagle grabbed 2 byes and 2 pinfall wins.  Wardell got a bye, 3 pinfall wins and a major decision win.  In the heavyweight class, Cardin Stump got a bye and 2 pins before falling short of the medal round. 

The Lady Raiders high medalist was Mary Anne Walker who finished in 2^nd place in the 132 division.  Walker grabbed a pair of pinfall wins and a bye on the day.  Mary Wolfrum got 2 pins and a decision win to grab 4^th place in the 125 division.  Alanna Coker grabbed a pinfall and decision win to go along with a bye at 112 as she just missed the medal round.  Lyra Leftwich got a pain of pinfall wins in a crowded 140 division bracket as she was eliminated just short of the medal round. 

The Raider grapplers will be back in action at home twice this week as they host home matches at the Raiders Academy on Tuesday and Thursday.  On Tuesday, Coffee County will host region foes Shelbyville and Lawrence County in an important tri-match.  On Thursday night, the Raiders will co-host a match with the Coffee County Youth Wrestlers as they welcome Cascade and the Cascade Youth program.  Matches both nights begin at 6 PM. 

The Coffee County Youth Basketball League crowned their 2019 champions in Saturday’s finals at CHS.  In the girls’ games, North Coffee beat East Coffee in the consolation game while Westwood edged New Union.  In the boys’ games, Westwood squeaked by New Union in the consolation game and College Street dropped North Coffee in the championship game. 

In the girls’ consolation, North Coffee bested East Coffee 21 to 15.  Sierra Star led the Lady Chargers in points with 13 while Danni Hillis added 8 points.  For the Lady Warriors, Rylee Fuller was the leading scorer as she had 13 points and  Taylor McBride added 2 points.

In the boys’ consolation, Westwood came back from a halftime deficit to grab a 23 to 22 win over New Union.  Caleb Hill was the leading scorer for the victorious Eagles as he finished with 8 points.  Aiden Walker added 5 points for Westwood.   New Union was led in scoring by Audie Nicoll who had 11 points while Jacob Mullen added 4 points for the Rebels.

In the girls’ championship, Westwood had to hold off a furious New Union rally to get a 17 to 14 win.   After holding the Lady Rebels scoreless in the 1^st half, Westwood saw New Union fight their way back to cut the deficit to 1 point in the waning minutes of the game.  Westwood finished the season with a perfect 10 and 0 record to gain their 2^nd straight league title and 4th league title in the last 6 years.  Jules Ferrell led Westwood in scoring with 8 points.  Reese Finch added 3 points for the Lady Eagles.  Jaydee Nogodula led the New Union comeback as she scored a team high 7 points with 4 of them coming in the 4th quarter. Kaysen Morgan added 4 points for the Lady Rebels.

In the boys’ championship, College Street opened up an early 5 point lead in the 1^st quarter against North Coffee as they rolled to a 35 to 14 win.   The Cougars never trailed in the game as they claimed their 7^th straight title.  Gabriel Hambly led College Street in scoring with 10 points while Carter Bell chipped in 8 points.  Brady Sizemore led the Chargers in scoring with 4 points. 

Members of the Westwood girls’ and College Street boys’ teams will be guests on Saturday’s Coffee Coaches Show to review their seasons.  The Coffee Coaches Show airs at 10 AM each Saturday and is broadcast live from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln.   The Coffee Coaches Show is heard exclusively on Thunder Radio.

Hosting Senior Night on Friday night, the Coffee County CHS swim team welcomed five middle school and nine high school teams to the Manchester Recreation Center for their final home meet of the season.   Honoring seniors Lindsey Cauble, Laura Fletcher and Kaylee Williams, the CHS team went 6 and 1 overall as the girls were 7 and 0 and the boys went 4 and 4.  The Coffee County Middle School team went 3 and 1 on the night as the boys were 3 and 1 and the girls were 1 and 3.  The Westwood team got 1 win, 1 loss and 1 tie.  The Lady Rockets were 3 and 1 for the meet while the boys lost all 4 of their matchups. 

The Coffee County CHS girls’ team got a 1^st place team relay finish in the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay.  Team members were Elli Masters, Kaylee Williams, Emily Williams and Kennedy Norman-Young for both teams. 

CHS swimmers with top 3 performances in the heats were:
Nick Bogle – 1st place – 200 freestyle(1:58.59); 1st place – 50 freestyle(24.01);
Kaylee Williams – 1st place – 200 IM(2:22.33); 1st place – 100 breaststroke(1:10.95);
Kennedy Norman-Young – 1st place – 100 butterfly(1:09.64); 2nd place – 100 breaststroke(1:21.85);
Emily Williams – 2nd place – 100 butterfly(1:09.69); 2nd place – 100 backstroke(1:12.25)
Lindsey Cauble – 2nd place – 50 freestyle(30.58);

The Westwood Middle School girls’ team grabbed a 2^nd place finish, among middle schools, in the 200 medley and the 200 freestyle with team members Cale Hays, Elsie Lazalier, Abby Gilday and Ansley Beachboard swimming both races.  

Westwood swimmers with top 3 performances in the heats were:
Abby Gilday – 1st place – 200 freestyle(2:23.39);
Elsie Lazalier – 3rd place – 200 freestyle(2:28.21);

The Coffee County Middle School girls’ team grabbed a 4^th place finish, among middle schools, in the 200 medley and the 200 freestyle with team members Patience Driggers, Katelyn Hale, Constance Eldridge and Emily Snider swimming the freestyle.     Swimming the medley were: Patience Driggers, Katelyn Hale, Eva Rigney and Emily Snider.  The high individual heat performance for Coffee Middle was captured by Brayden Kesling who finished in 5^th place in the 100 backstroke.

The swimmers will now be off until January.  The swimmers will travel to Winchester on January 9^th for a meet with Franklin County. 

The Coffee County CHS Lady Raider basketball team traveled to Chattanooga on Saturday night for a non-district matchup at Baylor.  After falling behind in the 1^st quarter, the Lady Raiders rallied to get the road win.  Coffee County came home with a 45 to 35 win over Baylor.

The Lady Raiders got off to a slow start as they were held to 7 points in the 1^st quarter to trail by 4 going into the 2^nd period.  In the 2^nd quarter, the Lady Raiders outscored Baylor 14 to 3 to seize control of the contest and grab a season sweep over Baylor.   Ellie Chumley led Coffee County in scoring as she had 11 points.  Ellie Graham finished with 10 points while Jenna Garretson, Jalie Ruehling and Bella Vinson each scored 8.

The Red Raiders and Lady Raiders will return home on Monday for a make-up game with Columbia.  Thunder Radio will be on hand on Monday night to bring you the district match-up with Columbia.  The Powers Storage Pregame Show tips off our live coverage at 5:50.  Tip-off is set for 6:00 PM at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym. 

The Temple Baptist Christian School basketball hit the road on Friday traveling to Cleveland, TN to take on Shenandoah Baptist Academy.   The JV Eagles 2^nd half rally came up short as they fell 15 to 13.  The varsity Eagles leveled their season record with a 29 to 18 win. 

In the JV game, the Eagles were held to 2 points in the 1^st half before rallying and outscoring Shenandoah 11 to 5 in the 2^nd half.  Sam Floyd led Temple in scoring with 8 points.  David Tran added 5. 

In the varsity game, the Eagles got their offense going in the 2^nd half matching the great defense played all game long.  Leading by 2 at intermission, the Eagles outscored Shenandoah 20 to 11 in the 2^nd half to grab the win and raise their season record to 5 and 5.  Alex Gloden was the leading scorer for Temple as he had 13 points to go with 6 rebounds and 8 steals.  Mich Gloden added 6 while Sam Floyd and John Green each netted 4.

The Eagles return home on Tuesday when they welcome Shelbyville’s Victory Baptist Academy.  That JV/Varsity doubleheader gets underway at 5 PM at the E.C. Bailey Gym. 

Austin Watson scored the lone goal for the Nashville Predators, as they fell to the Dallas Stars by a 4-1 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena.

The preview of the 2020 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic left the Predators frustrated at the end of the night, with the Stars scoring four unanswered in the second period on their way to handing the Preds their second-straight loss.

“It’s been a rough go for too long,” Preds goaltender Pekka Rinne said. “It’s another tough loss, especially at home. By the end of the game, there was probably half the people left in the arena, and it makes me obviously embarrassed by the results at home. We’ve got to be better.”

“Frustrating, yes, and embarrassing is another one that can kind of cover that,” Watson said. “It just hasn’t been good enough.”

After a scoreless first period, Watson gave the home team the first lead of the night when he tipped in a shot early in the second. But it was all Dallas after that. Blake Comeau, Roope Hintz, Jamie Oleksiak and Andrew Cogliano all tallied for the Stars before the end of the second stanza, and that was more than enough to hold on for the victory.

“It wasn’t a quantity thing, it was the quality [of Dallas’ chances],” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “It’s not like we were under siege, but the mistakes we were making, they’re costing us, they’re too big. We need to quiet the game down defensively just from a quality standpoint, not a quantity standpoint, and right now they’re capitalizing.”

“They pretty much got those four chances and they scored on every one of them,” Rinne said of the Stars’ goals. “We made a few mistakes, and then they made us pay right away. I’ve got to find a way to at least make some of those saves.”

Predators forward Colin Blackwell, who was recalled prior to Saturday’s game, and winger Yakov Trenin co-led the team with four hits apiece and earned their praises of their coach in the loss.

“We need to invest more in the game, and I thought he invested a lot,” Laviolette said of Blackwell. “He played the game hard, he was fast, he was attacking the game all night, he was physical, he was passionate, and I thought him and Trenin both did the same, tried to implement the same type of game and it was noticeable. They were able to move the puck, get it into the offensive zone, sustain pressure, establish a forecheck and they had a lot of purpose to their game, so they were noticeable.”

Nashville will now fly to New York to begin a four-game road trip on Monday night (at 6 p.m. CT) against the Rangers, and they know they’ll need a much-improved effort for a chance to find success in their upcoming outings.

“It’s always frustrating, it doesn’t really matter what our previous record is,” Preds forward Filip Forsberg said. “It’s been happening, it’s not good enough and we need to change it quick.”

Notes:

Preds forward Mikael Granlund missed Saturday’s game and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm also missed Saturday’s contest due to illness.

Prior to Saturday’s game, the Predators recalled forward Colin Blackwell from Milwaukee and reassigned forward Daniel Carr to the Admirals.

The Predators will now head back on the road for a four-game trip, and it starts on Monday night in Manhattan when they take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It’s then on to Long Island, Ottawa and Boston before returning home to host Arizona two days before Christmas.