RACHEL LOPEZ
Catoosa County Girls’ Co-player of the Year
She’s generally the smallest player on the court every night, but Ringgold’s Rachel Lopez simply continues to find ways to make big play after big play.
Adept at outside shooting and defending with great ball-handling skills at point guard, Lopez has quickly made a name for herself, not only with the Lady Tigers, but in northwest Georgia basketball circles in general.
And she took yet another step forward during the 2020-2021 season, garnering not only first team AllRegion (6-AAA) status for the very first time, but also earning a share of the Catoosa County Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year award, also her first such honor.
“It means a lot to me to be to Player of the Year for Catoosa County,” she said. “I’ve really never got any big recognition like this before. It feels really good and I’m proud that I get to share it with (Ringgold’s) Riley (Nayadley). She’s been a really good teammate.”
Lopez showed flashes of what she could as a freshman and, in her sophomore year, she put up averages of seven points, two-plus boards and over one assist a night to earn a Dream Team nod and help the Blue-andWhite advance to the Elite
Eight for the first time since the mid-1980’s.
But this past season, she hit another gear, starting off with a 20-point effort in a season-opening win
over Class AAAA stalwart Northwest Whitfield.
She went on to put up 12 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals a game, while shooting a blistering 88 percent from the free throw line.
Lopez said she felt she did what she needed to do for her team after the graduation of some key players from the state quarterfinal run the year before.
“I just felt like after (point guard) Sydney (Pittman) left, I needed to step it up a little and shoot more,” she explained. “I felt like I just needed to do more on the court then what I had been doing.
“There were a few games where I struggled a little bit, but overall, I felt like I did pretty well. I felt a little more confident than I did in my freshman and sophomore years.”
With another solid senior class set to depart, Lopez knows she will be counted on even more next season. And while she has some individual goals she would like to reach — including 1,000 career points — she also has goals she wants to see her team reach in her final prep season.
“I really want us to win a region championship next year and maybe go a little bit further in the state tournament,” she added. “We’ll have a lot of new people, so we’ll see how it goes.”