Ringgold squares off with county rivals
The Ringgold Tigers rallied from an early nine-point deficit to take a five-point lead on county and Region 6-3A rival LFO with four minutes left last Tuesday. However, their advantage would slip away in the closing minutes and the Warriors rallied for a 76-71 victory.
Ringgold erupted for 25 points in the second period to take a 37-35 lead into halftime and held a 69-64 cushion with 3:45 to play when LFO reeled off a 9-2 run to end the night.
The Tigers were down five when Brevin Massengale connected on a midrange shot to cut it down to a 74-71 deficit with 1:04 to play. Ringgold would get two shots to try and make it a one-point game, but were unable to get either shot to fall. A transition lay-up by the Warriors iced the game with 12 seconds left.
Massengale scored 20 for the Tigers, who also put four players in double figures. Rominger and O’Reilly Matthews each had 16 points with Rominger knocking down four threes. Cooper Sexton finished with 10 points, while the rest of the scoring included five from Taylor
Pierce and two apiece by Bryce Harris and Braxton Holtcamp.
LFO GIRLS 72, RINGGOLD 39
The girls’ game saw the Lady Tigers fall behind big early against the state-ranked Lady Warriors, who added to their lead in the third quarter. Ringgold outscored LFO 18-6 in the fourth, but it was not enough to complete the comeback.
Alayna Yarger led Ringgold with 13 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Leiah Henderson had nine points and nine rebounds. Brooke Baldwin finished with eight points and eight boards. Cady Helton scored four points. Hannah Scott and Eryn Epps had two points apiece and Serenity Russell added one.
DALTON BOYS 68, RINGGOLD 48
The Tigers led 18-11 at the end of the first quarter on Friday night, but fell behind 34-32 at halftime and lost more ground in the second half as the visitors claimed the victory.
The Catamounts had extended their lead to seven by the end of the third quarter before outscoring the Tigers 18-5 over the final eight minutes.
Matthews had 19 points for Ringgold. Rominger had nine points and Massengale had eight. Five by Pierce, three from Cade Shull and two each by Sexton and Holtcamp rounded out the scoring for the home team.
DALTON GIRLS 60, RINGGOLD 15
No further details on Friday’s opener had been reported as of press time.
RINGGOLD BOYS 67, HERITAGE 54
The Tigers snapped a fivegame skid on Saturday night by winning on the road at Boynton.
Ringgold led by 12 with three minutes left in the third when the Generals went on an 11-3 run to cut the gap down to four with less than 90 seconds left in the quarter.
However, the Tigers got a 3-pointer by Matthews in closing seconds of the third and they opened the fourth on a 10-1 run. That spurt included five from Matthews, a three by Rominger and a bucket by Holtcamp, while the Generals never got closer than 10 points the rest of the night.
Matthews scored 19 of his team-high 23 points in the second half, while Rominger connected on six 3-pointers on his way to a 20-point performance. Massengale added 10 to give the Tigers three players in double figures.
Pierce finished with seven points. Holtcamp, Harris and Gavin Lakin had two each, while Zachary Fow finished with one. Ringgold also got it done at the free throw line by making 17 of 22 attempts.
HERITAGE GIRLS 43, RINGGOLD 34
The opening varsity game of the night saw the Lady Tigers fall behind by doubledigits in the first quarter, but chip away to eventually cut the deficit to 28-27 early in the fourth.
Ringgold had four separate chances to take the lead over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, but could not get a shot to fall and foul trouble begin to mount for the Lady Tigers soon thereafter.
Ringgold (2-9) got 10 points each from Yarger and Henderson, four points apiece from Scott, Epps and Allie Massengale, and two by Helton.
Both Ringgold teams were scheduled to take part in the North Murray Mistletoe Madness event this week. Due to newspaper deadlines, coverage was not available in today’s edition.