Ringgold girls set to carry No. 1 seed into 6-AAA tournament
The Ringgold Lady Tigers dropped three straight games in a pre-Christmas tournament in Tennessee back in mid-December and returned home sporting a 6-7 overall record.
They haven’t lost since.
The Blue-and-White capped an 11-0 month of January with a 41-33 non-region home victory over Heritage in front of a packed David Moss Gymnasium on Friday night.
Rachel Akers had 17 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Riley Nayadley finished with 11 points and Rachel Lopez scored eight. Maggie Reed and Shelby Cole both had two points with Cole grabbing nine rebounds. Sydney Pittman scored the other point for Ringgold and blocked a pair of shots.
Ringgold (17-7) will be the No. 1 seed in this week’s Region 6-AAA tournament at North Murray High School. They have received a bye to the semifinals, which will take place this Friday night at 7 p.m., and are assured of a spot in this year’s Class AAA state tournament.
Heritage (7-18) got 14 points from Gracie Murray, six from Lauren Mock, three each from Sydnee St. John, Bailey Christol and Morgan Phillips and two apiece from Riley Kokinda and Brooke Matherly.
The Lady Generals were slated to take on LaFayette in the opening round of the Region 6-AAAA tournament at Southeast Whitfield High School on Monday of this week. Due to newspaper deadlines, results of that game were not available as of press time.
Heritage boys 65, Ringgold 44
Friday’s second game of the saw the Tigers take a 12-8 lead after the first quarter. However, the Generals would come back to tie the game at 19 apiece and they would use a 9-4 run late in the second quarter to forge a 2823 lead at intermission.
Ringgold would cut the deficit down to 32-30 early in the third stanza, but the Generals would
score eight unanswered points, capped by a 3-pointer from Caden Snyder with 2:12 left in the quarter. Snyder would bury another three-ball just over a minute later and Cooper Terry’s drive to the basket in the waning seconds of the period ended a 13-2 run and gave Heritage a 4532 lead going into the final quarter.
Terry and Cade Collins scored 14 points apiece in the win, while Kobe McAlister went for 10. Cade Kiniry finished with seven points. Snyder added six, followed by Carson Palmer with five, Mitchell Kennedy with four, Ty Loveless with three and Kaden Swope with two.
Heritage (11-14) was set to face Gilmer in the first round of the 6-AAAA tournament at Southeast Whitfield on Tuesday of this week. Due to newspaper deadlines, results of that game were not available as of press time.
Ringgold (6-18) got 17 points from Logan Hullender, who also reached the 1,000-point mark for his career on a basket midway through the third quarter. Jayden Williams had nine points. Chandler Johnson finished with six. Brevin Massengale added four, while Tyler Camp, Colter Long, O’Reilly Matthews and Jordan Wideman scored two apiece.
The Tigers were scheduled to take on Haralson County on Monday of this week in the first round of the 6-AAA tournament at North Murray. Due to newspaper deadlines, results of that game were not available as of press time.
Ringgold girls 54, Murray County 42
The Lady Tigers clinched the No. 1 seed in the tournament with a win in Chatsworth last Tuesday night. Lopez scored all of her team-high 15 points in the second half. Nayadley had 10 points and pulled down seven rebounds, while Sarah Headrick finished with nine points as Ringgold finished up 14-2 in region play.
Akers finished with eight points and two blocked shots. Cole had four points and five steals. Pittman had four points and five assists. Caroline Hemphill scored three points and Reed finished with one.
Murray Co. boys 67, Ringgold 50
The Tigers got 15 points each from Hullender and Johnson, but it was not enough to beat the Indians in the nightcap. The Tigers finished the regular season 3-13 in 6-AAA.