Fast start sends Beach past Ringgold in girls’ Elite Eight
Arguably the best season for a Ringgold High School girls’ basketball team in nearly 35 years came to a close Wednesday night a win shy of the program’s first Final Four berth since 1986.
The Beach Bulldogs from Savannah blitzed the Lady Tigers with a dominant first quarter and kept the home team at arm’s length the rest of the way as they punched their ticket to the Class 3A girls’ state semifinals with a 47-31 victory.
The backcourt duo of Madison Evans and Kaila Rougier combined for 22 points and eight steals, while Ameyah Dantzler controlled the paint to the tune of 11 points and 18 rebounds.
Beach’s speed was on display at in the opening quarter as five steals, along with a block by Dantzler, led to 10 of the Bulldogs’ points as the visitors from Savannah bolted out to an 18-2 lead after the first eight minutes, quieting a packed and loud home crowd at David Moss Gymnasium.
And although Ringgold stood toe-to-toe with the visitors on the scoreboard over the final three periods (29-29), the first quarter deficit was simply too much to overcome.
“I felt like we battled back after that first quarter, but when you’re trying to come back against a team as good as Beach is, you just have to be ready to go from the get-go,” Ringgold head coach Margaret Stockburger said. “I don’t like losing and (our girls) don’t either, but I’m proud of the way they came out of the dressing room and the way they fought back in the second half. It just comes down to the fact that basketball games have four quarters and you have to play all four of them.”
Ringgold finally began to settle down in the second quarter as they held the Bulldogs to just a single basket over the final 5:55 of the half. However, the Lady Tigers managed only six points of their own in that same span as pressure from the Beach defense, along with a cold-shooting first half, combined to send the Blue-and-white to the locker room with a 24-10 deficit.
Riley Nayadley began to find her range in the third quarter. The junior hit a pair of 3-pointers and accounted for all 10 of
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