DUANE SHERRILLEditor

Two of Tullahoma’s neighbors made it to the dance in the girl’s state basketball tournament. Both Moore County in 1A and Coffee County in 4A fell in their opening round games after exceptional seasons.

Coffee County was a perfect 34-0 until they ran into the buzzsaw that was Bradley Central, losing 53-44 to the now three-time defending champions. Bradley would go on to steamroll everyone in the tournament with Coffee County, by far, putting up the best fight in what many observers said should have been reserved for the finals rather than an opening round game. The Lady Raiders finish the 2024-25 season with a 34-1 overall record having won their eighth straight Regular Season District Championship, their sixth consecutive District Tournament Title, their second Region Championship in as many seasons and their first back-to-back State Tournament appearance since 1963 and 1964 when the Manchester Central High School team accomplished the same feat.

Meanwhile, the 30-3 Moore County Raiderette season came to an end last Wednesday at the Glass House in Murfreesboro in the first round of the State playoffs as they were defeated by the 30-5 Coalfield Lady Yellow Jackets 54-41. Their loss comes after they were runners-up last season to Pickett County in the finals. They will lose eight seniors from the squad this year. One of the three regular season losses for the girls from Lynchburg was handed to them by the Tullahoma Lady Wildcats.

Ellie Graham led her squad with 13 points while Emma Sazonov added nine on a day that saw Moore shoot 29.6% from the field while Coalfield shot 47.9% from the field. The 30-3 Raiderettes were six-for-17 from the line while Coalfield was 14-for-27. The issue for Moore County came in the second as they were outscored 11-to-6 and then again in the third when they were beaten 21-14.

Coalfield would not go another step in the tournament; however, as they were knocked off by a buzzer-beater in the state semi-finals by Van Buren County. Moore County defeated Van Buren twice during the regular season, both in Lynchburg and in Spencer. Van Buren ended up being stopped in the finals by the eventual champion, Greenfield. The Greenfield team was able to make the finals by beating Richland in the semis. Moore County had earlier defeated Richland in the Region finals