Abby Morgan of CHS basketball
The Coffee County Lady Raider basketball team put their perfect record on the line on Thursday in Tampa, FL taking on Tampa Bay Tech in the opening round of the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational. The Lady Titans entered the game with a record of 10 and 1 which included a win over previous Florida state champion Miami Country Day which is ranked as the #3 team in the nation. After going toe to toe with the Lady Titans for most of 3 periods, Coffee County saw Tampa Bay Tech pull away in the 4th quarter sending the Lady Raiders to their first loss of the year, 45 to 36.
Coffee County jumped out to an 11 to 6 lead after the first quarter only to run into a bit of foul trouble. In the 2nd quarter, Tech shut down the Lady Raider offense to hold an 18 to 14 lead at the half. Coffee County cut the deficit to 29 to 27 in the last 2 minutes of the 3rd quarter but could never catch up to the taller Lady Titans. Needing to foul in the 4th quarter to get the ball back, Coffee County saw Tampa Bay hit 6 to their 10 free throws in the 4th quarter to take the win.
Coffee County was led in scoring by Abby Morgan who had 21 points, including all 8 Lady Raider points in the 4th quarter. Jacey Vaughn and Jenna Garretson each finished with 4 points while Ashley Starks and Ellie Graham added 3 points apiece.
Coffee County’s record falls to 15 and 1 on the season. The Lady Raiders will return to the court on Friday when they take on Eagles Landing(GA) at 4:30 PM(ET) at Seffner Christian. The tournament concludes on Saturday.
