Coffee County Basketball Opens Season with a Sweep of Cannon County

A new season began and an old rivalry resumed as Coffee County hosted Cannon County on Tuesday night at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym to begin the high school basketball season in a TSSAA Hall of Champions contest. The Lady Raiders broke a 14 game losing streak to Cannon County in a 48 to 45 win. The Raiders fought off a 2nd quarter rally to cruise to a 70 to 50 win over the Lions.
It was a tenacious defense from Coffee County that helped the Lady Raiders build a 10 point lead in the 1st half, but it was clutch free throws in the 4th quarter that sealed the big win. Coffee County opened up a 10 point lead early in the 2nd quarter only to see Cannon County battle back to cut the margin to 5 at the half due to a 3 pointer at the buzzer. In 2nd half, the visiting Lionettes chased down Coffee County to lead going into the 4th quarter. From there, it was a nip and tuck battle with the Lady Raiders retaking the lead with 16 seconds remaining on a pair of free throws from Alliyah Williams. Williams and Holli Smithson hit their free throws in the last minute to seal the win.
Coffee County was led in scoring by Abby Morgan who had 11 points. Aerial Williams finished with 10 points and Smithson added 9. Alliyah Williams finished with 8 points including 3 big free throws in the final minute to be named the Crazy Daisies Player of the Game.

The Red Raiders saw a similar hot start as they built a 9 point lead in the 1st quarter, only to see Cannon County open the 2nd quarter on a 9 to 0 run to tie the game with 5:30 left in the half. The Raiders were able to pull away for a 5 point lead at the half before dominating the 2nd half in the 20 point win.
Coffee County was led in scoring by Garrett Eldridge who poured in 29 points to be named the Crazy Daisies Player of the Game. Stephen Sullivan notched 14 points and DeAaron Rozier added 8 points and Grant Sadler chipped in 7 points.
Coffee County will travel to Tullahoma on Friday afternoon for an afternoon doubleheader with Community in their final Hall Of Champions contest for the season. The girls’ game will tip off at 3:30 PM with the boys to follow. Thunder Radio’s next broadcast of Coffee County basketball will be on Monday when the Raiders and Lady Raiders travel to Huntland. The girls’ game will get underway at 6 PM, we begin our live coverage with the Powers Storage Pregame Show at 5:50.

To Download a copy of the broadcasts, go to : http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/