The Westwood 6^th grade girls’ basketball team welcomed Community to the Joel Vinson Gym on Sunday.  The Lady Rockets welcomed the Viqueens to Westwood for a rare Sunday afternoon contest.  The Lady Rockets held off a late Community rally to grab a 22 to 20 win. 

Audri Patton led Westwood in scoring with 9 points.  Maddie Meacham scored 8 points and Anna Reed added 5 points. 

The 6^th grade teams will be back in action on Tuesday, December 3^rd when they host the 6^th grade team from Morrison.  The boys and girls will both be in action.  The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM. 

Roman Josi scored twice, but the Predators gave up seven as they fell to the Chicago Blackhawks by a 7-2 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result pushes Nashville’s winless streak to four games and gives them a 1-1-0 record against Chicago this season.

The Preds outshot the Hawks by a 41-24 margin on the evening, but Chicago capitalized on what seemed to be every prime opportunity they had, and Nashville couldn’t get much of anything to drop at the other end, a mix that led to a disappointing loss after returning home from a long trip.

“It was a bad game,” Josi said. “We just lost 7-2 at home on Saturday night, and it’s really frustrating.”

“Ugly,” Preds forward Colton Sissons said of the game. “Just embarrassing in front of our home crowd.”

The Predators outshot Chicago by a 26-17 count through the game’s first 40 minutes, but only the Blackhawks found the back of the net. Erik Gustafsson and Dominik Kubalik tallied for Chicago in the first period, before Brent Seabrook and David Kampf beat Pekka Rinne in the second stanza.

“Defense is always a five-man job out there, like offense,” Josi said. “We’ve got to make sure we all defend together, we come back together and we battle it out together. We didn’t do any of that tonight.”

The fourth Chicago goal spelled the end of Rinne’s night as he exited in favor of Juuse Saros, and while Josi tallied twice in the third, the Hawks got three more in the final frame to spoil Saturday night and leave the Preds searching for answers.

“I have to go back and watch the game, because it is confusing, to be honest with you,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I don’t think we gave up a whole bunch, and yet we found ourselves chasing the game the whole night. I have to go back and look and see what we can do better defensively… I don’t feel like it was wide-open hockey, I felt like we were pressing for most of the night and couldn’t buy a goal at the other end.”

Now owners of a 1-6-1 record in their past eight outings, the Predators are not at all pleased with the way they’ve played as of late. Saturday’s result only emphasizes that fact, and they’d certainly prefer to reverse course on Tuesday when the Winnipeg Jets come to town.

“We have to do a little bit of soul searching,” Sissons said. “It’s not been going well for a little while here and it’s been a struggle but teams go through this, as we know. We have the personnel here to turn this around in a hurry, and we have a huge game against Winnipeg on Tuesday, so we can’t dwell on this one for too long.”

Notes:

With two goals on the night, Roman Josi now has 100 goals in his NHL career.

Defenseman Matt Irwin returned to the Predators lineup on Saturday night in place of Yannick Weber. Miikka Salomaki was also scratched for the Preds.

Nashville’s three-game homestand continues on Tuesday when the Winnipeg Jets come to town before the Vancouver Canucks visit on Thursday.

A pair of Coffee County CHS softball players inked their National Letters of Intent with the University of the Cumberlands on Thursday.  Seniors Sarah West and Gracie Pippenger each signed to continue play at the Williamsburg, Kentucky University in separate ceremonies at the CHS library.  The Lady Raider duo join a Patriots softball class described as “a very highly touted recruiting class” according to University of the Cumberlands head coach Bailey Dillender.  “We want to build a winning culture so it is important to bring in winners (like Sarah and Gracie)” said Dillender. 

West verbally committed to Coach Dillender in the summer of 2018 after her campus visit.  “It felt right(on my visit) and I fell in love with the campus” said West.  West is expecting to play as a utility player but “will play where they need me” said Sarah.  Coach Dillender expects Sarah to “fill a void in the middle of our lineup immediately.”  Coffee County CHS head coach Brandon McWhorter described West as “the heart of our team.  She is a Division 1 hitter and makes plays on defense.”  McWhorter also described her as a great leader with good instincts and “great hands.”

Pippenger, who committed earlier this year, liked the coaching staff and campus as well.  “It is the right size and I look forward to doing my best(at the University of the Cumberlands).  Coach Dillender has known Gracie for a while and “followed her for several years.”  Dillender expects Pippenger to compete for a starting position immediately.   “Gracie gives us some great firepower offensively and can play multiple positions defensively.”  Coach McWhorter called Pippenger a player with  “high softball intelligence with a will to succeed.  After her ACL surgery, Gracie showed a lot of toughness and determination” added McWhorter.

The University of the Cumberlands is a private liberal arts college located in Williamsburg, Kentucky.  The Patriots are a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), competing in the Mid-South Conference. 

The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams traveled to Sparta on Thursday night for a conference doubleheader with White County.  The Lady Raiders fell behind early as they fell 37 to 30.  The Red Raiders shut down the Warriors in the 4^th quarter to grab a 31 to 25 win.

In the girls’ game, the Lady Raiders missed 11 of 16 free throws in the game, including 5 in the first half as they fell behind 23 to 15.  The Lady Raiders were led in scoring by Olivia Vinson who had 15 points.  Taylor Anthony added 12 points.

In the boys game, the Red Raiders trailed by 1 at the half before pulling ahead in the 3^rd quarter before holding White County to a single free throw in the final 6 minutes.  The Red Raiders showed off their balanced scoring attack as Jackson Shemwell, Ethan Hargrove and Brendan Sheppard each netted 8 points.  Evan Kirby tacked on 4 points for Coffee Middle. 

The Raiders and Lady Raiders return home on Monday night as they welcome West Tullahoma to the CCMS gym.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action as part of the 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  The pregame show begins at 5:50, tip-off is set for 6:00. 

The Temple Baptist Christian School varsity basketball team opened their season on Thursday.  The Eagles opened up play in the Shenandoah Baptist Academy Tournament in Cleveland, Tennessee.  The Eagles opened the tournament with a doubleheader.  Temple opened up with a 31 to 19 win over Calvary of Kentucky.  In the nightcap, the Eagles shut down the host Shenandoah team by a final score of 36 to 9. 

Against Calvary, the Eagles played nearly mistake-free basketball as they got 14 steals against only 4 turnovers.  Alex Gloden was the leading scorer for Temple as he netted 13 points and pulled down 6 rebounds.  Mich Gloden also had 6 rebounds, 7 steals and scored 10 points.  Sam Floyd added 6 points.

Against Shenandoah, Temple held Shenandoah to 1 field goal in the 1^st half as they rolled to a 17 to 3 lead at intermission.  Temple had 16 steals on the night led by Isaiah Baker and Alex Gloden who each had 5.  Mich Gloden led the Eagles in scoring with 12 points.  Baker added 10 points and Alex Gloden chipped in 6. 

Temple will return to action on Friday as the tournament continues.  The Cleveland tournament concludes on Saturday.  Temple travels to Shelbyville on Tuesday night to take on Victory Baptist Academy.  That JV/varsity doubleheader will get underway at 5 PM.  Temple will host its first home game on December 12^th. 

Coffee County CHS soccer player Jenna Garretson has signed a college scholarship to continue her soccer career.  Garretson inked her letter of intent with Lee University at a ceremony in the CHS library.  Surrounded by friends, teammates and family, the senior midfielder made her college choice official on Wednesday.

Garretson led the Lady Raiders to 2 straight district finals in her final 2 seasons including a regular season district championship this fall.  Jenna was the team leader in goals and points this season as she finished with 15 goals and 3 assists.  Garretson was named to 1^st team All-District team as an attacking midfielder this season after being named the District Defender of the Year in her sophomore and junior seasons.  Jenna is expected to compete for a starting position as an attacking midfielder at Lee. 

Coffee County CHS head coach Lee Xixis believes Garretson will be successful at the college level because of her intensity.  “Jenna understands what it takes to compete at the next level and will work hard and have the intensity to compete(at the college level).”  Xixis praised Garretson for her leadership with her play and “she also led by example.  She will be hard to replace for a lot of reasons” added Xixis. 

Lee is coached by head coach Chris Hennessey and Luidgi Beauzile and Jenna said that was a big reason she chose Lee.  “They have been my travel coaches since my freshman year” said Garretson.  She also loved the campus saying “everything is new” in addition to the tradition and success of the program. 

Lee University is a private Christian university in Cleveland, Tennessee.  Lee is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II, competing in the Gulf South Conference.  The Lady Flames have made 3 straight appearances in the conference championship game, and advanced to the NCAA Division 2 Final Four in 2018.

Season tickets for the upcoming season of Coffee County CHS basketball have gone on sale this week.  Tickets are available for purchase between the hours of 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM Monday through Friday at the CHS Main office.  Tickets are $60 each which is a one game discount over purchasing them at the door. 

Season tickets, employee badges, and student Renaissance cards cannot be used for Hall of Champion, Christmas Tournament, or Post-Season games. 

Tickets at the gate will be $6 for adults and $3 for students. Preschool children get in free.