Huge second-quarter run pushes Lady Panthers past Dalton
You have to go back quite a while to find the last time a Ridgeland girls’ basketball team handed Dalton a loss on the basketball court.
You probably have to go back even longer to find the last time the Lady Panthers went on a 26-2 run against Dalton on the basketball court.
But both of things happened on the first night of the Ridgeland Thanksgiving Classic last Tuesday night. The Lady Panthers used that big second-quarter run to build as much as a 25-point lead and kept the Lady Catamounts at arm’s length in the second half to score a 66-54 win.
Senior Sarah Meadows, who was presented with a ball signifying her 1,000th career point before the game, dropped 34 on the Class 6A Lady Cats, including a 12 for 14 performance at the free throw line.
Ridgeland led 1110 after the first eight minutes, but scored 26 of the next 28 points to open a 37-12 advantage. Meadows led the way by scoring 13 of her 18 firsthalf points in the second period.
Dalton would finally break up the dry spell with a 3-pointer with less than 30 seconds left to play, but two final free throws by Meadows would give the Lady Panthers a 39-15 lead going into the locker room.
The Lady Cats would turn up the defensive pressure in the third quarter and began to find their range. They closed out the quarter on a 15-6 run, which chopped Ridgeland’s lead to 51-39 as the fourth quarter began.
Twice in the final period, Dalton trimmed the deficit to single digits. A lay-up by Precious Sims just 59 seconds in the period cut the Lady Panthers’ lead to 51-43, but Meadows drove the court for layups on back-to-back possessions to push it back to 13 with 5:38 remaining.
Then with 1:28 to go, after a Dalton bucket, Sims recorded a steal and lay-up that sliced the Ridgeland lead back to eight, 60-52. But once again, Meadows drove the lane on the ensuing possession, drawing a foul. She sunk the two free throws, getting the advantage back to double digits for good.
The Ridgeland defense would come up with a key stop on the next Dalton possession and Hailey Bryant converted in the paint on the other end with 43 seconds left to seal the victory.
Meadows also had four rebounds, four steals, two assists and two blocks on the night.
Brylee Dunn had seven points, 12 rebounds and seven steals and four blocks for Ridgeland. D’Ericka Ervin had six points, 10 rebounds and a pair of steals on the night, while Christina DeSalvo chipped in with five points.
Gabby Wright paced Dalton with 15 points, followed by Aubrey Young with 12 and Anna Wright with 10.
North Murray girls 69, Ridgeland 35
Fatigue from Tuesday’s physical, late-night battle with Dalton, a short turnaround, and a solid Lady Mountaineer squad conspired to snap the Lady Panthers’ twogame winning streak one day later.
North Murray jumped out to a 23-9 advantage in the 1 p.m. matchup and never looked back, opening up a 33-14 halftime lead.
Kailee Tipton had four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points for North Murray.
Meadows finished with 21 for Ridgeland to lead all scorers. Amaya Harrington added six points and Dunn dropped in four.
Ringgold girls 59, Ridgeland 54
The Lady Panthers O’Neal finished with nine points, while McElhaney and Thomison added six apiece.
Snyder and Allie Young led the Lady Colts with eight points each.
“We had some growing to do (since the scrimmage),” McElhaney added. “A lot of our girls were involved in softball, volleyball, cross country or cheerleading so this past week, after our scrimmage (at LFO), was really the first week we’ve had everybody out on the floor.
“We showed some growth between the scrimmage and tonight. Now we’ve got to prepare for a good Heritage team next week so we’re just looking to keep growing until then.”
The Lady Trojans (10) will play at Heritage on Friday, starting at 7 p.m. They will host Dade County on Saturday, beginning at 4.