Coffee County Middle School 8th grade basketball players and cheerleaders.

Hosting old rival East Tullahoma, the Coffee County Middle School basketball teams celebrated 8^th Grade Night on Thursday night.  In a pair of game you heard here on Thunder Radio, the Raiders and Lady Raiders finished their home season schedule with a conference sweep.  The Lady Raiders won 30 to 22 while the Red Raiders captured a 41 to 22 win.

In a tight girls’ game, Coffee County needed a late rally to get the season sweep over the Lady Panthers.  After Coffee Middle built an 8 point lead 30 seconds into the 4^th quarter, East rallied to cut it to 2 points with 2:24 remaining.   The Lady Raiders buckled down and closed out the game on a 6 to 0 run to capture the season sweep.  Chloe Gannon was the leading scorer for Coffee Middle as she finished with 12 points to be named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  Alivia Reel added 6 points and Maggie Crouch finished with 4.

The Red Raiders never trailed in the boys’ game as they also captured a season sweep over East.  After the Panthers cut the Raiders lead to 4 points after a 3 point play with just under than 5 minutes remaining in the first half, Coffee County dominated the game.  The Raiders outscored the Panthers 24 to 9 in the last 17 minutes of the game to get the runaway win.  Hayden Garr led the Raiders in scoring with 13 points.  Dayne Crosslin added 10 points and Cooper Reed added 8 points, all in the 3^rd quarter, to earn the Crazy Daisies player of the game honor.

The Raider and Lady Raider basketball teams will travel to Decherd on Monday night for a conference doubleheader with North Franklin.  Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast as part of the 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.   Tip-off for the girls’ game is set for 6 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you live coverage beginning with the pregame show at 5:50.

Download the broadcast at: http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/

Pekka Rinne was supposed to be off work Thursday.

But Juuse Saros called in sick and Troy Grosenick was called up from Milwaukee as an emergency backup. That meant Rinne was called on to play in his 600th career game, which turned out to be a Predators’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena.

For the 32nd time in his career, the 36-year-old Rinne started both games of back-to-backs, most of which came early during his career.

The reigning Vezina Trophy winner stopped 28 shots during a 4-3 overtime victory Wednesday against the Blackhawks in Chicago and made 30 saves Thursday.

“I used to play all the time in back-to-backs,” Rinne said Thursday morning before the team fell to 5-0-2 in its last seven games. “Nothing really changes. It’s been a policy the last I-don’t-know how many years (to not do that). It’s a good chance to take a rest and play the other guy.

“It’s automatic we split those games. I’m excited. Physically it’s a little bit different, but other than that nothing really.”

Rinne — and four shots off the post — helped keep the Predators in the game until the third period, when Artemi Panarin and Boone Jenner scored nine seconds apart for a two-goal lead. Panarin returned to score the winner in overtime.

The Predators answered with two goals in 38 seconds — one from Viktor Arvidsson and one from Mattias Ekholm — to tie it 3-all with 4:15 left.

Jenner put the home team ahead 1-0 at 6:26 of the first. Nick Bonino tied it 1-all early in the third.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

The Motlow State Bucks had six players score in double figures and seven players with at least four rebounds as they led wire to wire in an 89-83 win over non-conference opponent Lawson State at Copperweld Arena Saturday afternoon.

Motlow (5-0, 9-6) had not seen action since Dec. 18, when they dropped a 77-71 decision to Wallace State. The win over Lawson was the Bucks’ sixth win in their previous seven games. Motlow will return to TCCAA conference play this weekend, hosting Roane State (2-3, 5-10) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, then welcoming Walters State (3-2, 11-5) at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Bucks sit alone at the top of the conference standings. Admission is free to all Motlow home athletic events.

The home team jumped out on top from the beginning, but could never pull away from the visitors, who connected on 53 percent of their shots from the field. Motlow led 39-35 at halftime and hit key free throws down the stretch to keep Lawson State from overcoming the lead. The Buck shot 45 percent from the field, including 9-25 three-pointers, and hit 14-19 free throws.

Leo Castillo and Marcus Lacey each scored 12 points, with Lacey adding nine rebounds and Castillo dishing out five assists and pulling down four boards. Darius Harding and Josh Endicott scored 11 points, with Endicott gathering nine rebounds, and Josh Greer and Jayvon Humphrey each scored 10 points. Endicott leads the TCCAA in rebounding, averaging 9.3 per contest.

Eleven Bucks got in the scorebook, with Nic Barstad and Jarius Key adding six points, Bryce McBride scored five, Kin Webster had four, and Jaellan White scored two.

The Motlow State Bucks had six players score in double figures and seven players with at least four rebounds as they led wire to wire in an 89-83 win over non-conference opponent Lawson State at Copperweld Arena Saturday afternoon.

Motlow (5-0, 9-6) had not seen action since Dec. 18, when they dropped a 77-71 decision to Wallace State. The win over Lawson was the Bucks’ sixth win in their previous seven games. Motlow will return to TCCAA conference play this weekend, hosting Roane State (2-3, 5-10) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, then welcoming Walters State (3-2, 11-5) at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Bucks sit alone at the top of the conference standings. Admission is free to all Motlow home athletic events.

The home team jumped out on top from the beginning, but could never pull away from the visitors, who connected on 53 percent of their shots from the field. Motlow led 39-35 at halftime and hit key free throws down the stretch to keep Lawson State from overcoming the lead. The Buck shot 45 percent from the field, including 9-25 three-pointers, and hit 14-19 free throws.

Leo Castillo and Marcus Lacey each scored 12 points, with Lacey adding nine rebounds and Castillo dishing out five assists and pulling down four boards. Darius Harding and Josh Endicott scored 11 points, with Endicott gathering nine rebounds, and Josh Greer and Jayvon Humphrey each scored 10 points. Endicott leads the TCCAA in rebounding, averaging 9.3 per contest.

Eleven Bucks got in the scorebook, with Nic Barstad and Jarius Key adding six points, Bryce McBride scored five, Kin Webster had four, and Jaellan White scored two.