The Coalfield Yellow Jackets faced the Richland Raiders in a TSSAA Class 1A state tournament quarterfinal at the Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center on Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Richland girls advanced, 61-40. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — Spending the final minutes of Thursday’s Class 1A state quarterfinal on the bench wasn’t how Coalfield sophomore standout Lily Wright envisioned her — nor the Lady Jackets’ — return to the state tournament.
Saddled with five fouls, though, Wright found herself there, watching teammates finish out the remaining plays of a 61-40, frustration-filled loss to Richland inside MTSU’s Murphy Center.
Coalfield (26-9) reached the state semifinals a season ago and had aspirations of reaching the round again, maybe even going a step farther.
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But Richland turned out to be a formidable road block. The Lady Raiders (26-3) held Coalfield to 24.5 percent shooting. Moreover, they out-rebounded Coalfield by a significant margin, 44-26.
“We just didn’t execute,” Lily Wright said.
Wright finished with 11 points, five rebounds and three steals. But she shot 2 of 12 from the floor, getting most of her offense at the foul line (7 of 8).
Lilly-Claire Lowe led Coalfield with 12 points, as she hit two of her three 3-point tries.
Richland seized control in the first half, as it led 26-12 at the break. Coalfield shot 18.8 percent in the first 16 minutes and gave up 10 offensive rebounds to Richland — which, in turn, gave Richland nine second-chance points.
Coalfield coach Josh Wright attributed that to Richland’s effort and the defense Coalfield used.
“We don’t play 1-3-1 a lot. I thought it would help us stay out of foul trouble, actually. It didn’t seem to,” Wright said. “We just weren’t crashing the boards. I think they had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half.
“It doesn’t matter how good you play, it’s hard to overcome that.”
Still, Coalfield whittled its deficit down to 30-20 with 3 minutes, 52 seconds left in the quarter after Lowe scored in the paint. Roughly a minute later, Coalfield had a chance to cut the Richland lead down to single digits but missed two foul shots. Richland made them pay, scoring on the ensuing possession for a four-point swing.
The Lady Jackets trailed 38-25 after three quarters.
Richland finished the game 24 of 30 at the free-throw line, and that included a 17-for-21 clip after the half. It never opened up an opportunity for Coalfield to rally.
Miss Basketball finalist Bailey Blair led Richland with 28 points, knocking down 15 of her 17 free-throw attempts.
“Foul trouble got us a lot of it. Just frustrating. L.C. (Lilly-Claire Lowe) got some early calls on her and then Lily Wright got in foul trouble,” head coach Josh Wright said. “Things go a lot smoother when both of them are out there on the floor together.”
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