CONFIDENCE BOOST
No. 4 Lafayette proving worthy of lofty ranking
Last week was a big early-season confidence booster for the fourth-ranked Lafayette Ramblers, who got a couple of legs up in the Region 6-AAA standings with wins over Rockmart, Murray County and Ringgold.
Lafayette 75, Rockmart 57
At home last Tuesday, facing a Yellowjacket team that made it through to the Class AA Elite Eight a year ago, Lafayette pulled away in the second half as Decameron Porter scored 14 of his 27 points in the final period. He also pulled down a dozen rebounds, as did Aidan Hadaway, who poured in 18 points.
Junior Barber scored 15 and Jaylon Ramsey had 11 to give the Ramblers four players in double figures. Three points by Zach Barrett and two from Jordan Kennerly rounded out the scoring.
Lafayette 69, Murray County 42
For the second time this season, the Ramblers found the road to their liking as they sent a bit of a message with a resounding 69-42 pasting of 10th-ranked Murray County in a battle of state-ranked teams Thursday night in Chatsworth.
The two teams played evenly for the first eight minutes as the Ramblers held a slim 17-16 lead. However, Lafayette would turn up the dial on the defensive intensity meter the rest of the way, holding the Indians to less than 10 points in each of the final three quarters.
The Ramblers pushed their advantage to 34-25 by halftime before outscoring the Indians in the third quarter, 26-9.
Hadaway scored 14 points in the first period and finished the night with 22, including four 3-pointers. Porter showed his range with four 3-pointers. He had 15 points and also grabbed 13 boards.
Barber’s 14 points included three triples and Barrett had the other two of Lafayette’s 13 threes. He finished with six points, a total matched by Jaylon Ramsey, who
also dished out 10 assists.
Lafayette 64, Ringgold 40
The Ramblers ran their mark to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the re
gion on Friday, but not before having to rally on the road in the second half.
Foul trouble, aggressive defense from the host Tigers, and perhaps a little fatigue from playing back-to-back road games so early in the season, all seemed to take its toll in the first half as the Ramblers went to the locker room up by just a point, 24-23.
However, a 14-2 run to start the third quarter provided some needed breathing room and the Ramblers would continue to stretch out their lead the rest of the way.
Porter ended the night with 25 points and Hadaway had 17 after each were limited to just four points apiece in the first two quarters due to foul trouble. Barrett put up eight points,
followed by Barber with seven, Ramsey with five and Kennerly with two.
The Lady Ramblers were not in action last week as COVID-19 issues shut down the Lady Ramblers through the end of this current week.
Head coach Holly Rhudy announced the following make-up dates: Dec. 22 at home versus
Rockmart (JV girls at 3 p.m., varsity girls at 4:30), Dec. 29 at home versus Trion (Senior Night) (JV and varsity games, girls and boys, beginning at 3 p.m.), Jan. 9 at Murray County (JV girls at 1 p.m., varsity girls at 3 p.m.), Jan. 18 at Sonoraville (JV girls TBD, varsity girls TBD) and Feb. 6 at Ringgold (JV girls at 3 p.m., varsity girls at 5 p.m.).