Ringgold girls zeroing in on 6-AAA’s top seed
The Ringgold Lady Tigers went into the holiday break riding a modest three-game winning streak, but three straight losses in a tournament in Tennessee dropped the Blue-and-White a game under .500 for the season and had the team doing some soul searching during a two-week layoff.
However, since the calendar flipped to 2020, Ringgold has been a brand new team with a brand new attitude and a brand new winning streak.
That streak moved to seven in a row after two important victories this past week against Calhoun and LFO. Ringgold, now 13-7 overall, entered the week 11-2 and in first place in the Region 6-AAA standings with just three games left before the start of the region tournament on Feb. 3.
With a season sweep of Sonoraville already under their belts, three final region wins over Haralson County (Jan. 21), North Murray (Jan. 24) and Murray County (Jan. 28) would give the Lady Tigers the regular season title and the top seed for the 6-AAA tournament.
Ringgold girls 50, Calhoun 46
The Lady Tigers earned a hard-fought victory last Tuesday night in Ringgold, avenging a loss to the Lady Jackets earlier this season.
Ringgold outscored Calhoun 16-6 in the second quarter to take a 26-17 lead into the locker room. They would hold on in the second half, thanks to an exceptional night at the free throw line. The Lady Tigers were 14 of 15 during the game and a perfect 7 of 7 in the fourth quarter.
Rachel Akers, who passed the 1,000-point mark for her career in a Jan. 11 win at Coahulla Creek, led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds. Riley Nayadley had 12 points, six rebounds and three steals, while Sydney Pittman scored seven points and dished out seven assists.
Maggie Reed had six points. Shelby Cole scored four points and helped out with four steals and two blocks. Rachel Lopez had
three points and Sarah Headrick rounded out the scoring with two.
Ringgold girls 61, LFO 39
Nayadley drained a 3-pointer to beat the first-quarter buzzer as Ringgold jumped out to an 18-9 lead after the first eight minutes. The Lady Tigers would see their lead cut down to 2822 by halftime, but they would outscore the Lady Warriors 19-7 in the third quarter to take con
trol of the game for good.
Akers led the way with 18 points and six rebounds for the Lady Tigers. Pittman finished with 13 points and dished out 10 assists. Cole had 10 points and five rebounds, while Nayadley had eight points and seven rebounds.
Six points and three steals from Lopez, along with four points by Reed and two from Headrick, rounded out the stat sheet. Ringgold also went 15 of 18 at the free throw line, finishing the week at 88 percent (29 of 33) from the line.
Calhoun boys 75, Ringgold 55
The Tigers were unable to complete the sweep last Tuesday night. Logan Hullender scored 24 points for Ringgold. Chandler Johnson had 14 and O’Reilly Matthews finished with nine.
LFO boys 60, Ringgold 44
The Tigers were down by just four points after the first quarter, but the Warriors would put up 22 points in the second period to grab a 34-18 lead at the halftime break.
Ringgold would try to make a game of it in the third quarter, cutting the Warriors’ advantage down to 10 with less than four minutes left in the period. However, they would get no closer as the Warriors added to their lead before the end of the quarter before taking the air out of the ball in the final stanza.
Hullender had 17 points for Ringgold (5-15, 2-11). Jayden Williams picked up 12 points, while Johnson and Tyler Camp had four points each. Daniel Fow, Colter Long and Jordan Wideman each had two points, while Matthews rounded out the scoring with one.