Ringgold enjoys sweep in Chickamauga
Ringgold and Gordon Lee have played basketball countless times over the years, but never before as region opponents.
That was until Friday night when the Tigers and Lady Tigers strolled into Chickamauga and left town with a pair of Region 6-AAA victories.
The opener saw the Ringgold girls survive a tough battle to post their fourth consecutive victory, while the Tigers used two timely third-quarter runs to put away the Trojans and seal the sweep.
RINGGOLD GIRLS 40, GORDON LEE 37
The Lady Tigers led by just two points at the end of the first quarter and were up by just a single point in the second when Alayna Yarger connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to put her team ahead 16-9 with three minutes left in the half.
However, the home team refused to let them get away. Riley Shirley drove to the basket twice and connected on tough shots in the paint before Sophia Mcdonald connected on a trey from the top of the key and Gordon Lee went into halftime down by just two, 18-16.
The back-and-forth play continued in the third quarter with Ringgold taking a 29-26 lead into the fourth. Gordon Lee put up 11 points in the final eight minutes, but Ringgold matched them as Leiah Henderson scored eight of her 14 points in the final period.
Brooke Baldwin also helped put the game on ice by making 3 of 4 free throws in the fourth quarter. It was the only free throws the Lady Tigers would make during the game.
Yarger finished with 11 points and Baldwin had seven. Kinsley Forscutt scored four points, while Cady Helton and Allie Massengale scored two apiece for Ringgold (6-9 overall), who improved to 4-3 in region play.
Shirley had 11 points to lead the way for the Lady Trojans (2-11, 0-7). Emma Phillips scored eight points. Gracie Helton had six on a pair of threes and Abby Logan finished with five.
Dallas Wagoner matched Mcdonald with three points and Charlsie Mcelhaney scored one.
RINGGOLD BOYS 64, GORDON LEE 52
The nightcap, broadcast live on local television in Chattanooga and north Georgia, saw the Trojans take a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter after holding the Tigers to just four in the opening stanza.
However, Ringgold began to chip away at the lead throughout the second quarter before finally going in front after a steal and lay-up by O’reilly Matthews with 1:07 to go in the half. Matthews scored 10 points in the period and the Tigers took a narrow 23-20 lead into the locker room.
Ringgold came out gunning in the third as a quick 12-2 run gave them a 13-point cushion going into a television timeout at the fourminute mark of the quarter.
But with a few extra seconds to regroup, Gordon Lee came storming back. A pair of 3-pointers by Andrew Amor and a 4-point play by Hunter Holmes forced the
Tigers to call a timeout. However, Holmes would make a steal and a lay-up and, after a Ringgold miss, the senior hit another lay-up in traffic to cap a 14-2 run that pulled the Trojans to within a point of the lead, 37-36, with less than two minutes to go in the quarter.
The visitors had an answer, though, as six points by Brevin Massengale and another bucket by Matthews — all in the final 90 seconds — pushed Ringgold’s lead back out to nine by the end of the quarter and this time the Tigers wouldn’t let it slip away.
The margin stayed at double digits for most of the fourth quarter. Amor connected on another trey with just over a minute to play to slice Gordon Lee’s deficit down to nine, but Matthews and Luke Rominger combined for six free throws in the next 60 seconds to put it away.
Matthews had 22 points on the night, while Rominger made his presence felt with 20. Massengale’s 14 points gave the Tigers (6-10, 3-4) three players in double figures. Taylor Pierce finished
with four points, while Gavin Lakin and Noah Maretti each added two to round out the scoring.
Holmes finished with 17 points for the Trojans (8-8, 2-5) and Cooper Jackson
scored 15, while Amor ended his night with nine. The rest of the points included four from Evan Parham, three each from Luke Sikes and Sam Sartin, and one by Will Mccutcheon.