During this weekend’s Whitwell Christmas Tournament, Coffee County coach Herb Horton has gotten key performances from several of his young players. No performance can match the show that Alisha Jennings put on in Monday afternoon’s game with Sequatchie County as the freshman hit a pair of 3 pointers in overtime to lift the Lady Raiders to an exciting 56 to 51 win. “Our kids played to win” said coach Horton following a game that saw the short-handed Lady Raiders win with Alliyah Williams unavailable due to illness. After falling behind by 9 points at the end of the first...

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report http://www.thunder1320.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Preds-Report-12-22-15.mp3 Shea Weber and Colin Wilson each had a goal and two assists as the Nashville Predators defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 at Bridgestone Arena on Monday night. The win gave Nashville consecutive victories for the first time since Nov. 14 and 17. Scoring was prevalent for the Preds, but Pekka Rinne also played a large role, making 35 saves on his way to win No. 14 on the season. “He was really good tonight; he was sharp,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said of his goaltender. “Not only was it the quantity of saves he...

An inability to keep Forrest off the offensive glass proved fatal to Westwood Lady Rockets’ chances to claim the Duck River Valley Conference title on Saturday afternoon as Westwood fell by a final score of 48 to 42. A back and forth 1st quarter saw Westwood take an 18 to 15 lead with 5:26 left in the 2nd quarter when Forrest took a timeout. The adjustments in the timeout saw Forrest close out the half on a 13 to 5 run and a lead they would not relinquish. In the 4th quarter, the Lady Rockets fell behind by as...

The Lady Raider basketball team battled the way to a 1 and 1 record over the weekend in the Whitwell Christmas Tournament.  On Friday night, a slow start and foul trouble crushed the Lady Raiders chances of an upset of an 11 and 1 Silverdale Academy team.  The Lady Raiders trailed from the opening possession of the game to the hot shooting Lady Seahawks as they fell by a final score of 53 to 46.  On the negative side, the closely officiated game caused 3 Lady Raiders to foul out and saw all 5 starters miss many minutes due...

Filip Forsberg scored less than a minute into the game, and the Nashville Predators fended off a late push for a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The triumph gives the Preds 16 wins on the season, two of which have now come against the Wild. The division victory was an important one for Nashville, bumping them up to 38 points and staying right in the thick of the Central. “I thought our guys really just stepped on the gas and kept playing the game hard,” Nashville Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “There...

The Coffee County Red Raider basketball team opened their Christmas tournament on Saturday with a convincing 49 to 31 win over Bledsoe County. The Red Raiders had their 3rd straight strong 2nd half as Coffee County stretched their 2 point halftime to 10 points after 3 quarters. Coffee County emptied their bench in the 4th quarter as they closed out their 6th win of the season with a 17 point final period. Grant Sadler led the Raiders in scoring with 13 points. Caleb McKenzie chipped in 9 points while Boone Riddle added 7 points. In the opening game on...

A pair of 4th quarter free throws by Ashley Starks helped lift the Westwood Lady Rockets to Saturday’s finals of the Duck River Valley Conference tournament with a 30 to 28 win over Huntland on Thursday afternoon. Trailing by 2 points entering the fourth quarter, Westwood held Huntland to three 4th quarter points in a tense semi-final match up. The 2 teams were tied at 15 at the half in the pressure-packed, defensive struggle.     Morgan Jones led Westwood in scoring with 13 points including eight in the third quarter. Starks finished with 12 points while Karen Medina added three points....