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Shorthanded Ringgold takes South Park to limit

4 min read

SOUTH PARK – Ringgold’s girls basketball team secured a spot in the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs with a win Monday over West Mifflin, but it came at a cost.

The Rams’ starting point guard and leading scorer, junior Bailey Cooper, suffered a minor injury that would prevent her from playing Thursday night against South Park, which handed Ringgold a 29-point loss last month.

Instead of wallowing in the loss of their leader on the floor, the Rams traded shot for shot with the Eagles to determine third place in Section 4-AAA.

Though Ringgold led late in the fourth quarter, turnovers caught up to the Rams. South Park’s Allison McGrath made the go-ahead shot with 46 seconds remaining and the Eagles held on for a 46-43 victory.

“That team beat us by 30 the first time we played them and that was with Bailey,” Ringgold head coach Laura Grimm said. “I am really, really happy with their effort tonight. It was hard for both teams because we’re both in the playoffs, and at this point what are you playing for? Our girls came out and said, ‘Coach, we want third place.’ They came out, fought hard and almost got it.”

Freshman forward Ashley Briscoe’s pull-up jumper gave Ringgold (6-6, 11-10) a 42-41 lead with 2:45 remaining. South Park (8-4, 12-10) quickly responded when McGrath, who scored nine points, grabbed an offensive rebound and her putback gave the Eagles a one-point lead.

Rams senior center Marlena Schmidt, a West Virginia recruit, was fouled attempting a go-ahead layup with 1:49 remaining and made one free throw to tie the score at 43-43. Both teams had offensive breakdowns, trading turnovers over the next minute before McGrath drove to the basket, stepped out and hit a fade-away jumper with 46 seconds left to grab the lead.

Ringgold had a chance to tie, but senior guard Kara Foster’s three-pointer fell short and the Eagles made one of three free throws in the final seconds to secure the win.

“Every single person contributed at the end of the game,” said South Park coach Juliet Highberger, a 2004 graduate of Washington High School. “We had some foul trouble and we had people playing different roles. Every single player played together and that’s exactly how you win games in those types of situations.”

The Rams not having their starting point guard showed in the opening minutes. Ringgold committed nine turnovers in the first quarter, most of which were unforced, and the Eagles capitalized by jumping out to a 15-2 lead.

Ringgold broke South Park’s press defense and rallied behind Briscoe and Schmidt with a 14-3 run in just over a four-minute span to draw within four points. Briscoe scored a game-high 17 points and Schmidt chipped in 12 points with 12 rebounds and six blocked shots.

The Eagles made a concerted effort to limit Schmidt, a 6-6 force inside, by doubling her and blocking the lefty from gaining her footing down low.

“She’s going to have an excellent college career, but tonight we tried to focus on keeping her away from the block and having someone on the high side of her,” Highberger said. “With that little bit of a game plan, we were able to keep her out of her zone. She’s left-handed, she wants to go to the left block and finish.”

Briscoe tied the score 20-20 with just over three minutes remaining in the first half and sophomore guard Natalie Adams’ jumper with 15 seconds remaining sent the game into halftime tied 26-26.

“The point guard is like the coach on the floor, so she’s out there running things and getting people to where they need to be. I thought the girls did a tremendous job stepping up in her absence, but definitely early, you saw us trying to adjust.”

The teams traded baskets through the first four minutes of the second half and Ringgold grabbed its first lead with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. South Park’s experience began to show as junior Emily Marcus made a three-pointer and McGrath’s layup gave the Eagles a four-point lead heading to the final quarter.

Ringgold’s strong defense kept the game close in the closing minutes, but turnovers proved costly. The Rams finished with 24 turnovers, but their ability to limit McGrath, one of the best guards in the WPIAL, kept them in the game until the final seconds.

“Every time they made a bucket, we came down and responded,” Grimm said. “It came down to that final minute. She hit one big shot, we came down, we got a good look, but it came up a little short.”

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