By Tabitha Evans Moore, EDITOR & PUBLISHER

LOCAL SPORTS | It’s taken over a week, but on Wednesday the Moore County Raiders will get another shot at a district win with a match up against their perennial rival the Huntland Hornets. Originally scheduled for Tuesday, January 23, officials rescheduled the game, twice, after over seven inches of snow and ice hit southern middle Tennessee.

The Raiders come into Wednesday’s contest with a 0-2 District 9 record and a 4-11 overall record. They fell to Fayetteville on Friday, January 12 in Lynchburg by a final score of 47-33.

The Raiders gave the Tigers all they wanted in the first half of that game – going into the locker room tied 20-20, but Fayetteville put up 27 second half points will holding the Raiders to just 13 to outlast them down the stretch. Alex Copeland led for the Raiders with 16 points followed by Logan Hegwood with nine. Wes Clifton and Matthew White added three each and Peyton Martin added a basket.

Huntland will also be looking for their first District 9 win. They lost by one point to Fayetteville at home on January 5 and at Eagleville by a final of 69-60 in Rutherford County on January 12.

The two teams will come into the game with identical records. They are both 4-11 in the regular season and 0-2 in district play. Eagleville and Fayettevill currently sit tied for first place with 2-0 district records.

Here are some things to know going into the Huntland game:

1 | Create shots for Copeland at the perimeter and in the paint. Senior Alex Copeland can absolutely take over a game – especially if he gets hot from the three-point line. Look for the Huntland coaches to double team him to try and contain him. If the senior, who recently scored his 1000th point for Moore County, can get free on the perimeter and also drive inside, he’ll easily put together a double-digit game.

2 | Hegwood can be a difference maker. Senior Logan Hegwood may be new to the team but he’s hardly new to basketball. He played hoops with this group of starters in middle school before deciding to focus on football his freshman year. He returned to the court for his senior year and has come off the bench in the past three games to make an impact. He scored nine against Fayetteville, led with 15 points against Loretto, and was the second leading scorer against Tullahoma.

3 | Feed the ball to Martin. Post player Peyton Martin is a patient player. He looks for opportunities in the paint, then waits for defenders to react before going up untouched for points. He’s really impossible to defend and Moore County should look for more opportunities to get him the ball.

4 | Keep an eye on the Hornets Lashawn Kimmons. The 6’3″ senior showed out in the Hornets 69-60 loss to Eagleville – putting up 25 points. He can drive in the paint and can be the difference maker if he gets hot from the perimeter.

If you can’t make the trip to Huntland, you can watch the Moore County Sports Networks stream on the NFHS Network or follow The Times as we live blog the game from our Facebook page. •

{Community newspapers like The Lynchburg Times serve an important roll to high school athletes. Players use links to our articles in college applications and the TSSAA keeps up with Moore County star athletes through our coverage. That leads to more awards and recognition. Please consider supporting our work by subscribing. Click this link to sign up.}