In a pair of games decided at the free throw line, Coffee County welcomed Cookeville to the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym on Saturday night.  A huge crowd witnessed the Lady Raiders hit 3 of 4 free throws in the final 5 seconds to claim a 45 to 41 win.  The Cookeville Cavaliers hit 9 of 10 free throws late in the 4th quarter to hold off a Raider rally and win 56 to 39. The Lady Cavaliers used stout defensive pressure to keep the Lady Raiders out of rhythm for most of the game.  Coffee County was held...

The Coffee County Elementary Basketball League opened up their postseason tournament on Saturday at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  The quarterfinal round saw 4 boys’ games and 3 girls’ games on the day.  The winners from Saturday punched their ticket to the semifinal rounds which will be held this week at CHS.  The girls’ semifinal will be played on Monday with the boys’ semifinal to follow on Thursday night.  The tournament finals and consolation rounds will be held on Saturday. Girls’ finals from Saturday: East Coffee 10, College Street 7 New Union 21, Deerfield 6 Westwood 21, Hillsboro...

The Coffee County wrestling team traveled to Tullahoma on Saturday to compete in the Garner-Dyer Individual Tournament.  The Red Raiders and Lady Raiders were both in action in the one day tournament.  The Red Raiders finished in 10th place out of 18 teams ahead of region rivals Tullahoma, Warren County, Franklin Co, Siegel and Shelbyville. The Lady Raiders finished in 6th place out of 12 teams. For the Red Raiders, Jesse Smith was the top finisher as he finished in 2nd place in the 145 pound weight class.  Smith lost in the finals via a pin to finish the...

The Coffee County Youth Bass Club was in action on Saturday at Normandy Lake in the South Central Tennessee Region BASS Nation High School Tournament.  Fighting cold, rainy and windy conditions, five boats of Raider anglers braved the elements to compete in the high school division.  In the junior division, the boat of Kylan Mantooth and Lance Marcom were in action. In the high school tournament, 3 Raider boats finished in the top 10.  The team of Colby Thurmond and Jacob Garms were the top finisher for Coffee County as they a 5 fish stringer weighing 5.74 pounds to...

The Westwood Rockets basketball season came to a close on Saturday night in the opening round of the Duck River Valley Conference Tournament.  Taking on the Rockets of Forrest, the Westwood Rockets came up short by a final score of 46 to 26. Trailing by 7 at the half, Westwood’s offense stalled in the 2nd half in the season-ending loss.  Konor Heaton was the leading scorer for the Rockets as he finished with 8 points. The Westwood Lady Rockets will open Duck River Valley Conference tournament play on Monday night.  The Lady Rockets will square off against Middle Tennessee...

In his first start since Nov. 23, Juuse Saros gave the Predators a chance to win in Calgary, but a perfect redirection in the third period led the Flames to score the game’s final three goals on their way to a 5-2 victory. Craig Smith wired a wrister that eluded Flames’ netminder Mike Smith to tie the game, 2-2, early in the final frame, but Calgary answered, and answered quickly, with Garnet Hathaway scoring at 6:03, Alan Quine finding twine at 12:12 and Elias Lindholm adding the empty-netter at 17:00. The result makes injury-riddled Nashville winless in their last...

Putting their perfect records on the line on, the Coffee County CHS basketball teams traveled to Columbia on Friday night.  The Lady Raiders raced out to a huge lead and coasted home with an 85 to 19 win.  The Red Raiders could not keep pace with the hot outside shooting of Columbia as they fell 79 to 65. In the girls’ game, Coffee County forced 18 first half turnovers and scored the first 22 points of the game as they cruised to their 10th straight win.  All 13 players that dressed for Coffee County scored in the game as...

Fighting windy and raw weather conditions, the Coffee County Claybusters were in action at Big Springs on Saturday, December 1st.  In their final shoot prior to the Christmas holidays, the Claybusters captured the lion’s share of top finishes. The Claybusters #1 team won the Junior Division, A&B Class with a score of 439(out of a possible 500) and earned the high overall team score in the division.  The Claybusters #2 team also grabbed high overall honors as they shot a 405 in the Sub-Junior Division A&B Class.  The Claybusters Team #4 won the Sub-Junior C & D Class with...